Hii there, We all know that the Penicillin was the first antibiotic to be discovered in 1929 by a scottish man namely Alexander Fleming. But do you know 'actually' the Penicillin was discovered accidentally when Fleming returned post two week vacation and found that Fungi had contaminated one of his Petri-Plate.
Normally, one would just discard the agar, wash of the lab ware and move on to next experiment but Flemings eyes noticed something different. The Fungi had killed off the bacteria that was growing on the plate, thus clearing the area around itself.
This led Fleming to the discovery of 'Penicillin' named after the fungi Penicillium notatum that actually grew on that Perti dish. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1945 for the discovery of penicillin.
I hope you like the trivia at the start of these weekly article on current science affairs/events, where I try to delve into the exciting current science events and research that happened in the past week or so, trying to explore the latest technologies and breakthroughs/events that occurred in science.
Whether you are a student, a professional, or simply a science enthusiast, this article will provide you an engaging and informative insights and update you about the fascinating research that happened in the field of science in past week/s.
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| How AI can help detect Alien Life, Doomsday Clock moves closer to Midnight, Dodo coming back to life and other Science News of Week |
In today's blog, you will read about;
How AI can help us detect alien life,
Why Coffee providing you extra energy is a myth,
The Doomsday Clock moves closest to midnight, Does Earth have enough resources for Renewable Technology,
Is Dodo coming back to life,
Are love harmones essential for Love,
Invention of new form of Ice that may already be present on distant moons,
Last but not least how chemicals used to embalm Egyptian mummies came from India and South East India.
AI to help detect Alien Life
Search for Alien life has been rather a bizarre biproduct of Renaissance period which trickled down generations only to get more credence. Currently, SETI i.e Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence pioneered by Frank Drake in 1960's, is a joint effort to look out for extra terristial life by looking for alien electromagnetic signals coming from distant stars.
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| Image generated via DallE by Mufawad |
Right now, be it Green Bank Telescope in USA or Murchison Widefield Array Telescope in Australia, many large telescopes across the world are trying to listen to such signals from distant alien civilizations, if any.
However, recent reports suggest Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), may help detect alien life by analyzing humungous data that these telescopes yield at quick pace.
It will potentially lead to a new era for SETI research supported by AI technologies as this field was said to be strained by having practical difficulty in the analysis of big data.
The search, many a times, also yield false positives that are produced by Earthly interference from mobiles, GPS and other technologies. Thus differentiating the signals from Human or Earth technology from the kind scientists are looking for from the Galaxy has been becoming tedious task.
However, AI algorithms can be trained on large quanta of data and taught not only to recognize features that are characteristic of Earthly interference, but also pick up potential extraterrestrial signals, thus seperate chaff from the grain.
Another Community Science based project is supposed to be launched at the University of California later this Feb, where the volunteers from the public will try to sort through images of radio signals and classify them as potential types of interference. This will help train AI algorithm to search SETI data from Green Bank Telescope, Virginia.
"CLICK HERE TO READ AI, ITS TYPES, WORKING AND EXAMPLES"
Does Coffee provide you extra energy? Research doesn't say so.
If we go by the data, about 2 billion cups of Coffee are drank every day and I guess most likely to get energy for days hustle.
Whereas, it is believed that Coffee provides us energy for days' work but it may not be so true, according to research.
It is the caffeine inside the coffee that acts as main stimulant when it binds with the adenosine receptor on the cells.
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| Image generated via DallE by Mufawad |
Normally when a body does work, the cells release adenosine which binds to adenosine receptors on the neurons. It leads to a cascade effect which slows down the nervous activity and leads to dizziness and sleep. Adenosine also regulates our sleep and wake cycle .
When caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors, it occupies the spot while stopping binding of adenosine. This kills off the sleepiness in humans.
You would say that is still Ok, as atleast it increases our efficiency to do more work. But there is a catch as the caffeine eventually breaks down, and the adenosine that had been waiting and increasing in the body, latches on to the receptors and the drowsy feeling comes back, sometimes more strongly and abruptly.
Therefore, the time to take Caffeine is also important. The half life of caffeine is about five hours, when taken at BedTime, it causes Insomnia and other issues.
Besides fixing to adenosine receptors, Caffeine can also raise levels of Cortisol, which make us feel more attentive.
Love hormones may not be so essential for Love atleast in Voles
Voles, that belong to rodent family, are generally committed to their partners and young ones. Scientists believed that it was due to the love hormone "Oxytocin" that bound these voles togather. However, recent studies does challenge this theory.
Thanks to the CRISPR-CAS gene editing technology, which Scientists deleted the gene producing oxytocin protein, it was found voles lacking oxytocin still formed monogamous pairs and took care of young ones.
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| Image generated via DallE by Mufawad |
Normally, offsprings of mice which lack oxytocin die of starvation as the mothers do not release milk upon suckling by pups but in Voles, gene edited mothers were still able to release milk for their offspring, however with reduced supply. Althought the scientists speculate that there could be other mechanisms that must be compensating for the lack of oxytocin.
But why shall it be important for us 'humans'. The voles have been helping neuroscientists to understand the biological underpinnings of human social behaviours. These voles are said to be one among the few mammalian species that exhibit social attachment similar to humans.
Besides that for years, researchers have been analyzing role of oxytocin in human social attachments and whether it could help cure disorders like Autism.
Doomsday Clock moves closest ever to Midnight
Last month on Januray 24, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of the "Doomsday Clock" from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight, as a reflection of how close mankind is to the potential catastrophe, the primary reason being Russia-Ukraine War.
The idea of a Doomsday Clock was conceived during cold war between USA and USSR, as an alarm to caution the stakeholders about impending existential threats, nuclear or otherwise.
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| P.C: Bulletin of Atomic Scientists |
Presently, the Scientists involved in setting of the clock have taken into account other risks as well such as climate change and AI.
Although, Doomsday Clock might not have stopped wars and nuclear race but it has become a cultural artifact of sorts. Besides that, it did facilitate public awareness, debates and generate headlines.
When the Clock was first designed in 1947, it was positioned at 7 Minutes to Midnight, but in 1948, the hand was moved to 3 minutes to Midnight after USSR detonated its first atom bomb. Since then, the minutes hand has rolled back and forth depending upon the global situations. Infact, in 1991 at the end of Cold War and disintegration of USSR, the clock moved to farthest '17 minutes' to Midnight.
It must be kept in mind that the Doomsday Clock is not a scientific instrument but a metaphorical object and a tool. A tool that makes people talk about it when its time changes, and the issues behind that change.
Does Earth have enough resources to create renewable energy technologies?
Recently, a news popped in the media that in 2022, wind and solar supplied more of the EU's electricity than any other sources including coal, petroleum or gas. But the question that bothered the scientists is whether Earth has enough resources to create renewable energy technologies. Luckily, the answer is Yes, there is plenty around.
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| P.C: Istock |
There are speculations that its mining and processing can harm the environment and increase emissions. There are perils of Human right violations as well given that most of these resources lie in indigenous lands or in not so democratic, open countries.
According to researchers, 17 key mateirals are required to generate renewable forms of energy. These materials can be categorized into general materials like aluminum, cement, steel etc and specific materials such as Polysilicon for Solar panels, Fibreglass for wind turbines blades, Rare earth metals such as Scandium, Lanthanum for motors, neodymium for magnets of turbines etc.
Data suggests that about 2 billion metric tons of steel and 1.25 billion tons of cement would be required to build energy infrastructure in next 25 years. Besides that there will be multifold increased demand of neodymium and polysilicon. Demand for materials used in batteries such as graphite, lithium, cobalt also going to rise by 450% by 2050.
The researchers also found that emissions from the mining of these materials would release 29 gigatons of carbon dioxide in next 25 years. This may look huge but it is believed to be 30 times less than the emissions from fossil fuels.
Besides that, there are social/ humanitarian issue involved as well. The workers in mines work in very exploitative conditions. Child labor is prevalent in cobalt mining in Congo, where as forced labor has been reported from polysilicon processing in China.
Dodo might be coming back to life, Thanks to Colossal bioscience
Colossal Biosciences, founded by Ben Lamm and George Church came into the limelight in 2021 after announcing that will bring 'Wolly Mammoth' back to life using genetic engineering and biotechnology. Now on January 31, it has grabbed headlines again for announcing to resurrect the dodo, after the whopping $150 million dollar investment for Avian genomics study.
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| P.C: Wikipedia |
Dodo was about 1 meter tall and 15 to 20 k.g bird native to Mauritius, which went extinct as humans set foot there in 17th century. They were killed by humans for meat and their eggs were eaten by cats and monkeys that humans bought with them.
The closest relative to the Dodo is believed to be Nicobar Pigeon and in 2022, Research team at U.C. Santa Cruz also reconstructed the dodo’s entire genome.
Now Colossal Biosciences wants to resurrect whole bird and the process has already started. When it comes to recreating an animal, technically, it could be done by cloning DNA from a cell, but that is impossible to achieve in extinct animals as viable DNA would not be available.
However, Most de-extinction programs try to recreate an extinct animal by editing the genome of a closely related living species to replicate the genome of extinct species. This edited genome would then be implanted into an egg cell of that related species.
If the animal is born successfully, it would be raised in an appropriate environment with utmost care.
Colossal Biosciences currently has a team working on the cloning methodologies necessary for the process. It also has teams working in field of computational biology, cellular engineering, stem cell reprogramming etc.
Cloning birds is very difficult that animals. Normally in cloning, DNA is inserted into an egg cell that is ready for fertilization but not yet fertilized. But there is no access to a bird egg cell at the similar developmental time as in mammals.
Therefore, Workers at Colossal Biosciences is exploring a process to extract avian primordial germ cells (PGCs) from bird eggs. If the process works, PGCs from pigeons would be manipulated to eventually develop into a dodo like bird.
One question that enthralls stakeholders is how would Dodo actually behave. Mostly, animal behaviour is the function of genetic makeup and social environment. But, there is no social template for this animal to follow post its creation. In other words, it may not be possible to bring back dodo, but we can create a bird with dodo's genome.
Another challange for scientists will be to create optimum habitat and ensure physical and psychological well being of the bird.
According to Colossal Biosciences, it is not only about de extinction of one bird Dodo but creation of tools for Avian genomics.
Since 1500's, more than 160 bird species have been classified as extinct. As per data, 223 bird species are critically endangered, 460 endangered and 798 vulnerable currently.
"CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT"
In a paper published in 'Nature' on labelled pots found in embalming workshop, the ingredients used to embalm mummies have been revealed. The contents have been identified as complex mixtures of resins and other substances, some of which grow as far away as Southeast Asia.
Previously, the ideas about embalming process and chemicals used have came from texts and analyses of the mummies themselves. But knowing the specific chemical compounds was difficult.
Chemical used by Egyptians to embalm mummies came from India, SE Asia
In a paper published in 'Nature' on labelled pots found in embalming workshop, the ingredients used to embalm mummies have been revealed. The contents have been identified as complex mixtures of resins and other substances, some of which grow as far away as Southeast Asia.
Previously, the ideas about embalming process and chemicals used have came from texts and analyses of the mummies themselves. But knowing the specific chemical compounds was difficult.
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| P.C: Egyptiantoursportal.com |
That changed in 2016 after an embalming workshop discovered in 2016 at Saqqara, which is supposed to be an ancient Egyptian burial ground in use since 2900 BC. At the site archaeologists discovered dozens of ceramic vessels used in the embalming process, many were even labelled with the compounds and their use.
The researchers at National Research centre, Giza analysed the vessels using a technique called gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. This showed that the pots contained extracts from juniper, cypress and cedar trees. The team also found crude asphalt, animal fat and beeswax in the vessels.
However, researchers also identified two nonplussed ingredients: a resin named "Elemi" from Canarium trees in Africa; and "Dammar" from Shorea trees in South India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia.
The Egyptians are known to have traded with Indian civilizations as far back as the 3000 B.C.
The Mauryas in India and the Ptolemies in Egypt are even said to have corresponded and exchanged ambassadors with each other.
A new kind of Ice invented on Earth that could be already present on some far off moons.
Scientists led by Alexander RosuFinsen at University College London have created a new form of Ice that has the density and structure same as water.
This amorphous Ice, also termed as "Water Frozen in Time" has opened doors to studying waters' mysterious properties.
The ice is called Medium Density Amorphous Ice. The team shook normal ice in a container with stainless steel balls at temperatures of about – 200 ˚C to produce an alternative white granular powder type, which had never been seen before.
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| Image generated Via DallE by Mufawad |
Normally, when water freezes, it crystallizes in hexagonal shape to form ice with density less than the water. But the Amorphous ice is different with no order.
Already two different types of Amorphous Ice have been discovered which include ‘Low-density’ ice and 'high-density’ Ice. Both the types are present in space e.g in Comets.
The team created third type of Amorphous Ice by using a container with metal balls inside and shaking a small amount of ice about 20 times per second. The metal balls turned it into a white powder.
Using X ray diffraction, the team found its structure and density similar to that of liquid water, but haphazardly ordered structure of the molecules.
This new form of ice would change the approach to studies of water as the discovery of a medium-density amorphous ice could challenge many set ideas about Ice research.
This research also has implications in understanding other celestial bodies as well. Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, have icy surfaces which could be of same medium-density amorphous type.
That would hint on the habitability/ possibility of alien life in oceans that lie under the ice surfaces on these moons . Amorphous ice might have a role to play that scientists need to understand further.
