Scientists

A group of scientists has proposed to infect another world and see what happens as an experiment. His candidate: The Enced Moon

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While NASA’s rovers are still looking for clues on Mars, Jupiter, and Esturno, Saturn’s icy moons, of Jupiter, of Jupiter, They have become the main candidates to house microbial life outside the earth in the solar system. But what will we do if we discover that they are not inhabited? A controversial idea. Encard, with Your subsurface ocean and confirmed presence of crucial elements for lifeIt is a usual focus of scientific fascination. The European Space Agency Plan to send a probe there which would arrive in 2054. Anticipating a disappointment, a group of astrobiologists has launched a bold proposal: if it turns out to be uninhabited, we can consider “infecting it” deliberately with terrestrial microbes to observe how life spreads in a habitable but virgin world. An unprecedented experiment. Since they began to explore the solar system, large space agencies have taken very seriously not to contaminate other planets and satellites, building their probes in clean rooms to reduce the number of bacteria that could survive on board. This experiment would be to do the opposite. It would be the first planetary scale attempt to build a biosphere. It would force us to learn how to assemble complex ecosystems from scratch, which organisms are the most appropriate to do so and how they behave in extraterrestrial conditions. Why sow life in another world. Charles S. Cockell, Holley Conte and M. Dale detail their idea in an article published By Space Policy magazine. The group argues that, if future missions confirmed the absence of native life in Encela, the deliberate inoculation of the satellite would help us understand how life spreads in permanently dark oceans. Inoculation would allow to investigate how bacteria ecosystems were organized On the ground snowball or even If hydrothermal chimneys From a primitive land they could be the place where life arose on our planet during the early or early archaic times. A multiphendary economy. Entering a more speculative field, an inhabited brain could, in theory, become a source of materials for the exploration of the exterior system if humanity would become a multiparaneary species. The authors even mention the engineering of organisms as an option to make the new biosphere, transforming the ocean of the Saturn moon into a “biofuel production plant”, once our metanogenic bacteria have prospered. It could even resort to synthetic biology to design optimized organisms. Faster than terraft Mars. The experiment would, of course, a multigenerational company, but unlike Mars the terraftwhich would take centuries, the inoculation of an extraterrestrial ocean could be achieved with current technology and would be “much simpler and less expensive.” But there are also ethical implications. How many missions are needed to be sure that it is really uninhabited? Is such an experiment more valuable than studying the geological and geochemical processes of a virgin world? And perhaps it is also possible to ask: will we be able to guard a second biosphere, in addition to that of the earth, for multiple generations? It is worth thinking in the long term, but we must previously intensify our sense of responsibility for the Earth’s biosphere. Image | POT In Xataka | We have been looking for “habitable” places in space for decades. The Encelado Ocean paints better

Intermittent fasting is the fashion diet. At least among scientists who study their effects on microbioma

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Inside they coexist Billions of microscopic organismsmany of which have our Digestive tract set as a place of residence. Throughout the last decades we have been realizing the outstanding role that this internal ecosystem plays in our health, far beyond gastrointestinal health. There are many factors that can affect our microbiome, including our genetics, our place of residence, The people with whom we livethe drugs we consume or Our daily habits. And of course, our diet. Our diet can affect different ways to the microbiome of our interior. For example, the introduction of a pathogen such as the clostridium difficile bacteria can cause the Intestinal “ecosystem” balance Go to the fret due to the propagation of the bacteria. However, without reaching pathological extremes, the nutrients we consume, such as fiber, can also affect the microorganisms that reside there. What we eat affects, but this also implies that what we stop eating also matters. Following a diet leads us to make a series of decisions focused on achieving a goal, often (not always) this is that of losing weight, but the changes introduced will have diverse effects, including that of affecting, for better or worse, our microbiome. He intermittent fasting It is one of the most famous diets in recent years. That is why the diets that temporarily restrict our caloric intake and which are referred conventionally with the name of intermittent fasting have received Great attention by the Nutrition experts. Logically, this has led to various research groups to investigate How the intermittent fasting to our microbioma affectswhat are the potential benefits and what the risks of these changes. The problem is that, as usual, the results of these research are quite diverse. What seems true is that intermittent fasting affects our microbiota. One of the last studies in this regard has attracted the attention of some despite not having been published in a magazine after passing the pairs review process. The work was led by researchers at Anhui Medical University and it was Recently cited by the magazine Newscientist. The study, conducted with mice, suggested that intermittent fasting could damage the intestinal barrier and cause a disruption in the microbiota, increasing the risk of intestinal inflammation. However, the door also opened therapeutic roads that could avoid these problems, such as indolaletic acid administration. The manuscript detailing the analysis, available in repository Research Squareis still in the process of review for publication in the magazine Scientific Reports. That is why we must take these results with a certain degree of skepticism. In statements collected by the magazine itself NewscientistSathidananada Panda del Salk Institute for Biological Studies of California He raised some doubts Regarding the methodology, such as the fact that the manuscript did not point out the details of the diet to which it underwent mice or that these were of a very young age when starting with the diet. For better or worse Other studies have drawn a somewhat more optimistic perspective regarding the effects of intermittent fasting on our microbiota and with it on our well -being. Of course, I did it by introducing an additional element, combining the intermittent fasting with a protein dosing diet, which space in a balanced way the proteins that we consume throughout the day The studypublished almost exactly one year ago in the magazine Nature Communicationspointed out that intermittent fasting “It showed promise” in the improvement of intestinal health, and did precisely attending our microbioma. According to details the teamin addition to seeing an increase in their levels of certain proteins, such as cytokines, participants who followed the protocol marked by intermittent fasting also experienced an increase in the presence of beneficial microbes in their digestive system, microorganisms associated with lower body fat and better global health. The studies of Scientific Reports and of Nature Communications They are two of the most recent in the matter but not the only one. Last year a group of researchers published A systematic review of literature In the magazine Frontiers in Nutrition. This type of work compiles thoroughly the previous studies carried out by analyzing a specific relationship, in this case that of intermittent fasting and the gastrointestinal microbiota. What detected the team that led this “study study” is that there was a varied literature and a “substantial heterogeneity of the results” that made it difficult to validate results, although these seemed to suggest that intermittent fasting could improve the wealth and diversity of the microbiota. What seems increasingly evident is that this type of diets affects our microbioma and that we must continue studying the consequences of this relationship. In Xataka | We are increasingly clear that our microbiome is key to our health. Our protein sources can also alter it Image | Foodie Factor / Cats Coming

Some scientists have tested the “fasting 4: 3”. The results have been quite positive

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He intermittent fasting It is perhaps the diet that has won the most popularity in recent years. The idea in broad strokes is not to focus on limiting what we eat but to limit the hours to which we do it. From this basic idea, there are several ways in which to limit our consumption depending on the hours and days we dedicate to fasting. Positive results. The last study in finding evidence of the effectiveness of these forms of dietary restriction has made it focusing on fasting 4: 3. The team responsible for the experiment observed that this form of fasting, in the context of a broad intervention that also included promotion of physical activity, led to a higher average reduction of the body mass of the participants in the study. 4: 3. In this analysis, the participants of the experimental group underwent the call Intermittent fasting 4: 3 (4: 3 IMF). This form of fasting implies limiting our caloric intake by 80% for three non -consecutive days per week. The intervenion was accompanied by a high intensity exhaustive program for weight loss. This program included behavioral support and recommendations to increase the physical activity of moderate intensity up to 300 minutes per week, explained the team responsible for the study. 12 months. For the analysis, the participants, 165 adults overweight or obesity were divided into two groups. The experimental group, which underwent the restriction described and a control group that underwent a caloric but constant caloric restriction diet in which caloric intake was reduced by about 34.3%. Both groups had the support intervention and in both cases diet and program were carried out for 12 months. “Modest” results. Although the difference between one group and another was “modest”, the team in charge of studying it observed that the experimental group reduced its body mass to a greater degree compared to the control group. The experimental group reduced its body mass in 7.6% on averagewhile in the control group the reduction was 5%. In addition, a greater proportion of participants in the experimental group managed to reduce their weight by 5% or more. In kilos, the average difference between one groups was almost 2.9 kg. The details of the work were published In an article In the magazine ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE. More than a matter of weight. There are diverse reasons that can lead to a person to lose weight. Aesthetics usually weighs a lot but the fact that overweight and obesity are risk factors in various diseases and disorders may be the most relevant. The causal interconnections that unite both factor are complex, so a lower body mass is not a good indicator of a health improvement. Therefore, the team also examined the effect of the diet on cardiometabolic markers such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, or fasting glucose levels. These markers showed an improvement, the team added. In Xataka | For many, skipping dinner is part of your intermittent fasting. It is not always a good idea Image | Xataka with Gemini

Some scientists wanted to count each and every one of the trees in China. Surprisingly, they have achieved it

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China is an immense country, the fourth country with greater extension in the world after Russia, Canada and the United States. The country has a wide variety of ecosystems, some of which house a countless amount of trees. Or almost countless. 142.6 million trees. A new study has estimated the total number of trees in China. The result of the count is 142.6 billion. This implies that the Asian giant has about 100 trees per inhabitant. More than a count. The study not only offers a mere count of the number of trees but also offers us valuable information about its location, density and characteristics of the different types of ecosystems that can be found in China. For example, the team found that the coniferous forests of the temperate areas were the densest in the country, reaching some 720 trees per hectare. The 87.9 billion trees that can be found in this type of environments represent about 60% of the country’s total. A country of contrasts. The forested areas of China are especially concentrated in the south and northeast of the country. The study also analyzed the tree density of the different Chinese hydrographic basins, as well as the different administrative divisions of the Asian country. In view of drone. For the study, the team He turned to Lidar technologyan analogue of the radar that replaces radio waves with light waves. These sensors were mounted in drones to cover 1,400 square kilometers of wooded territory. The result: 400TB of processed data. The methodology used is not exempt from limitations. In dense forest areas, the tree canopy, the upper part of these trees, can overshadow the lidar view, causing smaller trees to be hidden from counting. That is why those responsible for the study believe that this is a conservative estimate of the number of trees in the country’s forests. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Science Bulletin. Protection plans The project will serve to evaluate Chinese environmental conservation plans. Something easy taking into account the magnitude of plans such as “Great green wall” wave “Billion Tree campaign” In Xataka | Leonardo Da Vinci established “The Tree rule” 500 years ago. Now we have discovered that he was wrong Image | Tom Fisk

Its scientists have detected a design failure in NASA’s reactor

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United States and China are measuring their spatial capabilities In a race to build the first lunar base. Although NASA was victorious from the previous race to the moon against the Soviet Union, It is not so clear that it takes the lead On this occasion. For now, Chinese scientists They have found failures In a crucial element of NASA’s lunar program: its energy source. NASA’s lunar reactor. NASA leads US efforts to inhabit the moon with its partners of Artemisa agreements. The Chinese Space Agency CNSA and the Russian Roscosmos advancetogether with a small group of allies, in the development of the International Lunar Research Station (Ilrs), which It will start working in 2036 and Wait to house thousands of scientists. On the moon, one night lasts 14 terrestrial days, so more than solar panels will be needed to maintain the energy supply of the facilities. NASA He has been developing for years A small nuclear energy plant specially designed to function on the surface of the moon. This little fission reactor is called Fission Surface Power (FSP) and can generate 40 kW of power. China has found a failure. The researchers of the National Nuclear Corporation of China (CNNC) examined NASA’s proposal and discovered improveable aspects in their design. A study published by the Chinese scientific journal Atomic Energy Science and Technology Review these weaknesses focusing on the composition of nuclear fuel, the cooling system and the security control of the US reactor. Chinese scientists highlight the FSP reactor compact designbut they see a clear mistake in the choice of fuel. According to his study, the use of very enriched uranium cylindrical bars will require thick beryl layers as a armor to control intense radiation. In addition, it will limit the useful life of the reactor to about eight years due to the “fuel swelling” (fuel expansion), a phenomenon that makes the material increase in volume gradually due to radiation. To this we must add that the reactor has a simple control mechanism, less safe in critical situations. Remove, NASA, we do it. In addition to pointing out US design problems, CNNC scientists presented an improved version of the lunar nuclear reactor taking as reference both NASA design and an old Soviet space reactor called Topaz-II. The main improvements introduced by the Chinese lunar reactor are: Ring -shaped fuel bars: instead of solid cylinders, the bars have an annular shape, such as a hollow ring. Inside they have small uranium dioxide pills covered by stainless steel, allowing the heat generated by the nuclear reaction to dissipate better, using the interior and exterior of the refrigeration ring Double cooling system: The Chinese reactor has a cooling system based on a liquid metal (NAK-78) that flows through internal and external channels of annular fuel bars. This design allows the reactor temperature to be maintained below 600 ° C, which improves the safety and stability of the reactor Most efficient neutron moderator: Chinese design uses a material called ititrio hydride (YH1.8) as a moderator, the material responsible for slowing down neutrons, improving nuclear reaction and making it more efficient. Ititrium hydride is more stable than traditional nuclear moderators (such as zirconium hydride), which avoids dangerous hydrogen leaks and increases the safety and life of the reactor Less nuclear fuel necessary: ​​Thanks to its design and the use of Ititrium hydride as a moderator, the Chinese reactor needs only 18.5 kg of Uranium-235 in front of the NASA FSP reactor, which requires approximately 70 kg of U-235, almost four times more. Weight reduction is essential in space missions, not only due to cost savings, but because nuclear materials are being launched through the Earth’s atmosphere Your turn, United States. The Chinese reactor is up to 75% more efficient than that of NASA, and promises a useful life of 10 years, compared to the eight of the American reactor. This advance would potentially position China ahead of the United States in the objective of establishing a sustained and self -sufficient presence on the moon, since the constant energy that a nuclear reactor allows will be essential to be able to hold inhabited bases in the long term. But NASA design is not monolithic or closed. The expected thing is that, as China has done, the agency takes advantage of its opponent’s investigations to improve its own technology. What could also end up with companies that develop small modular reactors (SMR) for the supply of electricity on Earth. If something has space careers, they improve, based on research, technologies that end up moving to other industries. Images | POT In Xataka | We are building nuclear spacecraft again. NASA believes we will need them

Some scientists have created a camera that detects faces at 100 km

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China continues to progress without technology brakes. Although many innovations focus on the civil sphere, others reinforce their military and intelligence power. Proof of this is an experimental system that promises to analyze objects kilometers away. We are talking about a technology that could promote an important leap in its espionage capabilities. The information comes of South China Morning Postwhich details how a team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has achieved successful observations with an innovative laser system. This operates in optical wavelengths and helps obtain huge distance images, if certain conditions are met. A new observation system As we can see in the visual representation, the researchers displayed the system on a shore of the Qinghai lake, an immense Alpine lake in the remote northwest of China. On the other side, to 101.8 km awayThey installed a set of reflective rhymes. The impressive thing is that, despite the huge distance, the system managed to distinguish details of just 1.7 mm wide. The laser makes the difference. They say that it reaches an accuracy of 15.6 mm when measuring distances, which theoretically leaves the spy and telescope chambers with lenses, surpassing them by a factor of 100. Now, the observations must be made with optimal climatic conditions, stable wind, low cloudiness and, in observations of the orbit, clear skies. Although the tests have been performed on land, the Hongkonés newspaper points out that this technology could be used for espionage from space. Its unprecedented capacity to capture details would allow Identify faces from orbit Or, in reverse, analyze satellites from adversary countries with great precision from the surface of our planet. If the question is how they have achieved it, the answer is in a combination of innovations. To begin with, the researchers divided the laser beam into a 4×4 microlent matrix, which allowed to expand the optical opening of the 7.2 mm system (0.68 inches) to 68.8 mm (2.71 inches). With this approach, they managed to overcome the usual limitation between the size of the opening and the field of vision. In addition, they incorporated a specialized laser module capable of emitting signals with frequencies higher than 10 gigahecks. Thanks to this, the system reached an extremely fine range resolution, allowing distance measurements with great precision. At the same time, a narrow color spectrum was maintained to improve the resolution of the azimuththus optimizing detail detection. Images | Chinese Academy of Sciences | Bernard Hermant | POT In Xataka | Anuuu is thrown over another problem: China prepares to lead the manufacture of chips for advanced weapons

The oceans of the Earth were green for thousands of years. More and more scientists believe they will be again

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On February 14, 1990, 6,000 million kilometers from Earth, the Voyager 1 He took a photo. There, sustained in space by the mysterious forces of. Space-time, our planet is nothing more than a light blue motor between the sunlight reflected by the camera. Four years later, Carl Sagan baptized that photo as “that pale blue point.” What we just discovered is that it was not always the case. 3,000 million years ago, that point would have been green. Wasn’t it blue? Actually, according to Taro Matsuo and his team from the University of Nagoya in Japan explain in Japanduring most of the history of the earth its surface would not have been blue. For about 3,000 million years and until 600 million years ago (just when complex life begins on the planet) the predominant color seems to have been green. (No) take iron from the matter … The first is that, at that time, the indications tell us that the oceans were full of iron hydroxide. This inorganic compound absorbs blue light. In addition, naturally, water absorbs red light. That means that taking into account that chemical composition, the only free light was the green color. The other reason is the cyanobacteria. It’s about One of the first photosynthetic beings of history and not only used chlorophyll to absorb sunlight, but used fuses to absorb red and green light. The sum of these two things caused the seas to have a characteristic green color. And they had it for billions of years. It is true that it was not a pure green color. After all, blue is “a consequence of dispersion Rayleight of sunlight in the atmosphere. “So the color would tend to blue, but without a doubt it would be something much greener than current. What is the use of all this research? First, to understand that when The MIT explained in 2019that the sea will return green in the mid -century, we are talking about something very plausible. It is not just that A follow -up study In 2023 he confirmed that more than half of the land surface had gained greenery in recent years. It is that, for a long time, it was so. On the other hand, it allows us to answer one of the great questions of astrobiology: “Does only the blue tone of a planet serve as an indicator of its potential to house life?“And the answer, of course, is no: not a ‘non -radical’ is true; but one that reminds us that there are more things out there that can still dream our biology. Image | Georgetan#5 In Xataka | UFOs are a distraction: how astrobiology is our best asset to find extraterrestrial life

Reviewing data almost 30 years ago, scientists believe they have identified a new ocean in one of Jupiter’s moons

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On September 21, 2003 the Galileo probe He was immolated in Jupiter’s dense atmosphere, the planet he had been investigating for almost a decade. 30 years after the arrival of the probe to the Jovian orbit and more than 20 years after the end of its mission, the NASA probe continues to offer us new information thanks to the old data that it sent us in its day. A new oceanic world. The study in question has indicated that Calisto is “most likely” an ocean world, a rocky body covered by a layer of water at least in a liquid. The key to the new study has been in a more exhaustive use of the data provided by the Galileo mission, including all its magnetic measurements. Callisto Callisto It is the satellite farther from your planet of Among the so -called four Galilean moons of Jupiter. It is also the second largest moon of Jupiter, with a simular size to that of mercury but with a remarkably smaller mass. One of the most striking details is its surface full of craters which gives Callisto an appearance “similar to a golf ball” The suspicion that this satellite hid an ocean inside It is not newbut the intensity of his ionosphere had been a limit to our ability to study the interior of the Jovian moon from a distance. The reason is that researchers They believed That the satellite ionosphere, an electrically and located conductive region located in the highest layers of Calisto’s atmosphere, could be “imitating” the magnetic footprint that would emit a hypothetical salt and conductive water ocean. That is, astronomers could not know if the magnetism detected proceeded from outside or inside the moon. A new look. New data and analysis tools have allowed to solve this issue. The team responsible for the new study incorporated the set of measurements Magnetic available from the eight occasions in which the Galileo probe survived Callisto. Combining methods. The team combined the analysis of the data obtained by Galileo with a model that simulated Calisto’s ionosphere. They compared the results of the observations with what the suggested in the theoretical model. From the results obtained, the team responsible for the study concludes that the satellite ionosphere cannot by itself explain the magnetism detected, but that the existence of a salt water ocean under the surface of the moon could contribute to the observations. The results therefore suggest the existence of such an ocean. The details of the analysis and its results have been published In an article In the magazine AG ADVANCES. The oceanic worlds of our solar system. Calisto is just one more in The list of candidates To oceanic worlds in our solar system, a list that includes different bodies in which we believe, with greater or lesser degree of certainty, that there are oceans. This list includes other moons such as Europe, Ganymedes, Lord it, Triton, and also a dwarf planet: Pluto. These planets are of great interest to astrobiology since they are the main candidates to house life or the appropriate conditions for the emergence of this in our space neighborhood. That is why a whole new generation of probes is focused on The study of this type of environments. The list includes NASA’s Europe Clipper Mission, and Juice (JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER) of the European Space Agency. The first will be focused on analyzing in depth the moon Europe while the European mission will travel to several of these frozen worlds to collect information about what their layers of ice hide. To these missions, China Tianwen-4 could be added, whose observations could also give us important data about Calisto and his hidden ocean. In Xataka | Juno has just given us an image we had never seen: lava rivers in a Jupiter satellite Image | NASA/JPL/DLR

Scientists discovered two objects in our galaxy that they are not able to explain

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Japanese astronomers have found two objects in our galaxy that defy all known logic. Although they are the size of typical stars, these bodies are predominantly composed of ice, a feature that does not fit current models of star formation. The discovery has surprised the scientific community, as it raises questions about its origin and if it really They could represent a completely new type of starnever before observed. These objects They have unusual characteristics that make their classification difficult.. Its size is comparable to that of white dwarfs or neutron stars, but its icy composition contradicts any previously documented phenomenon. Some researchers suggest they could have formed in extremely cold regions of spacewhere conditions allowed ice to accumulate on a massive scale. Others consider the possibility that they are remnants of ancient star systems that underwent radical transformations. A new type of star? The discovery of these icy bodies has given rise to an exciting hypothesis: are we facing a new type of star? Conventional stars, whether made of hydrogen, helium or denser compounds, do not have ice as a dominant component. This phenomenon suggests that there must be unknown cosmological processes that allow the formation of these objects. Astronomers still don’t have definitive answers, but They plan to use advanced telescopes to analyze its composition in depth and behavior. Spectroscopy could reveal key information about the presence of other elements and the temperature of these structures. On the other hand, scientists believe that understanding the galactic environment in which these bodies were found could also offer crucial clues. The discovery not only represents a challenge to current theories, but also a opportunity to expand our understanding of the universe. If it is confirmed that these objects are a new type of star, it will be necessary to rethink the foundations of modern astrophysics, opening the door to future research and possibilities in the exploration of the cosmos. Keep reading:• NASA managed to capture live the moment a planet disintegrated• NASA discovers new evidence of the presence of water on Mars• NASA astronauts have been “stranded” in space for 6 months

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