ROOM FOR OPTIMISM IN TODAY'S SCIENCE NEWS

Time again for news from the world of science! (Yes, you remember science—the thing that depends on verifiable facts and repeated experimentation to prove logical theories?) Today’s news is genuinely exciting and, in addition to providing more plot bunnies than a patch of cerebral clover, these stories leave actual room for optimism!

Osiris-Rex loves Bennu. At least, judging by the kiss the NASA spacecraft gave the asteroid on Tuesday, the first step in its mission to collect dust and rock samples from the rugged bit of space voyager to bring back home in 2023. The rendezvous with the asteroid has been underway since launching from Cape Canaveral in 2016 and included a prolonged orbit of the asteroid for data collection. Though data sent from the spacecraft confirmed the sample collection was successful, it will be as long as a week before scientists at NASA will know for sure whether the samples actually made it onboard safely. If something went wrong, Osiris-Rex will have another chance to complete the collection before the sample capsule parachutes into the Utah desert on its return home. Even at this stage, however, NASA scientists were over the moon. As NASA administrator, Jim Bridenstine said, “We are on the way to returning the largest sample brought home from space since Apollo. If all goes well, this sample will be studied by scientists for generations to come.”

Osiris-Rex: One small step for machine-kind . . .

Cheap, clean and abundant energy? Wouldn’t that be the answer to everyone’s prayers? But scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe they may be well on the way to making good on that goal with a working prototype of a fusion reactor. They have developed a design for a compact fusion reactor that mimics the sun, smashing hydrogen atoms together to release energy, thus generating less radioactive waste and using less fuel than any conventional energy process.

The search for the dream of fusion, which does not generate planet-warming greenhouse gases, has so far taken decades, but the MIT team says in a series of peer-reviewed papers that construction on their tennis-court-sized reactor, SPARC, could begin as early as next spring. Construction might take three to four years, with a goal of beginning production of energy by 2035. This would be a leap forward over SPARC’s closest competitor, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in France, which has been underway since 2013 and is not expected to produce any fusion reaction until 2035. The MIT improved design uses superconducting magnets to contain the extremely hot and high-pressure reactions going on inside the reactor, producing as much as ten times the energy it consumes. Martin Greenwald, co-lead scientist on the MIT team, is optimistic, but he does add one caveat: “If we can overcome the engineering challenges, this machine will perform as we predict.”

Goodbye to plastic? No matter how hard we all try to reduce, reuse and recycle, it seems there is just too much plastic for our planet to handle. It fills up our garbage cans, our landfills, our oceans. It strangles our sea creatures, settles at the bottom of the deepest ocean crevices, poisons even our tiniest humans through the milk they drink in their baby bottles. But what can we do? The corporations that rule our lives won’t stop putting their products in cheap plastic containers, and most of us have no choice but to buy what they sell.

But scientists at the University of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England have been working with a plastic-eating enzyme called PETase (a natural digestive substance discovered in a landfill in Japan in 2016). They have found a way to accelerate this chemical’s ability to break down the avalanche of plastic in our environment—by combining it with another enzyme called MHETase. The new “superenzyme” breaks down plastic six times faster than PETase alone. Better yet, the process dismantles the petroleum-based product, leaving behind the basic building blocks of the stuff so it can be used over and over again. Not that the superenzyme works superfast; it would still take days or weeks to recycle that soft drink bottle you just tossed in the trash. But researchers are looking for ways to speed the process and scale up operations. At this stage of the game, any progress is welcome.

Meanwhile, on Mars. First, we hear there may be exotic lifeforms flying (swimming?) around in the dense clouds of Venus. Now, it seems, Mars may be hiding an environment ripe for microscopic life in salty ponds below its barren surface. Italian scientists reported their findings last week, more than two years after identifying evidence of what they believe to be a network of underground lakes in data sent back from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter.

The research team, led by Roma Tre University’s Sebastian Emanuel Lauro, used more than 100 radar observations from the orbiter from 2010 to 2019, analyzing the findings with a method similar to that used on Earth to detect buried lakes in the Antarctic and Canadian Arctic.  High concentrations of salt in the water likely kept the lakes from freezing as Mars, once warm and wet, gradually became dry, barren and cold. The surface temperature at the South Pole of Mars averages an estimated 172 degrees Fahrenheit but gets temperatures warm underground. The scientific team urged future missions to Mars to target this region, calling the area of potential biologic interest. Co-author of the paper outlining the team’s findings, Roberto Orosei, of Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics, insists it’s possible the subsurface lakes may have been “a place where life could adapt and survive.”

And if that’s not a plot bunny, I don’t recognize a fluffy tail when I see one.

Cheers, Donna

*Information for this week’s post provided by:

“Nasa Osiris-Rex spacecraft lands on asteroid Bennu in mission to collect dust,” The Guardian, October 22, 2020. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/nasa-osiris-rex-spacecraft-lands-on-asteroid-bennu-in-mission-to-collect-dust/ar-BB1ai20O

“MIT Researchers Say Their Fusion Reactor Is ‘Very Likely to Work,’” by Victor Tangermann, futurism.com, September 29, 2020. https://futurism.com/mit-researchers-fusion-reactor-very-likely-work

“A new ‘super enzyme’ that digests plastic waste six times faster, has been engineered, scientists say,” by Lynn Hasco, penn.live.com (PA Patriot News), September 29, 2020. https://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2020/09/a-new-super-enzyme-that-digests-plastic-waste-six-times-faster-has-been-engineered-scientists-say.html

“Clouds of Venus could harbor life, new study shows,” by Andrea Leinfelder, Microsoft News, September 14, 2020. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/clouds-of-venus-could-harbor-tiny-floating-lifeforms-according-to-a-team-of-astronomers/ar-BB192inJ

“Salty lake, ponds may be gurgling beneath South Pole on Mars,” by Marcia Dunn, AP News, September 28, 2020. https://apnews.com/article/lakes-astronomy-archive-mars-91d5aa0a083db0d338ce5241560c02b1

 

SCIENCE CATCHES UP TO SF--AGAIN!

And now, a few items to prove that real science is overtaking science fiction at an astounding rate.

Remember that scene in the episode of Star Trek, The Original Series, when Captain Kirk steps to a bank of receptacles in the wall and orders a chicken sandwich and coffee from the replicator (only to be served a plateful of fluffy Tribbles)? Well, a similar food reproduction system may be coming to an automat near you (without the furry interlopers, of course).

So close to replicator tech--just leave out the tribbles.

Catherine Lamb reports in TheSpoon.tech that the Israeli company Redefine Meat has developed a 3D printer that can produce a beef-like meat substance from plant-based materials. The company can build the printer for the relatively low cost of $100k. The idea would be to sell the machine, then supply the buyer (food distributors or producers, for example) with plant-based material packs to make the meat products. Currently Redefine Meat is focused on beef, but is researching how to create tuna, pork and other “flavors” as well.

Why stop there? “Replicated” vegetables and grains would be just as desirable in space, or even in isolated environments on earth where storage and/or refrigeration space is at a premium—the research stations at Antarctica, for example, or on remote islands. And imagine the advantages on the International Space Station, or if we establish an outpost on the moon or on Mars.

Of course, we Trekkers are not surprised that the writers who envisioned the cellphone, the iPad and the MRI would inspire yet another tech marvel. But, hey, I never really thought I would be clairvoyant when it came to the science in my books.

My Interstellar Rescue series characters use a system of stable wormholes to get around the galaxy. The entrances/exits to these tunnels in space/time are called Jump Nodes in the books and act on surrounding space like mini-black holes. In the series, one of these Jump Nodes exists on the very edge of our own solar system, hidden from our technology, but making Earth an easy target for the slave-trading bad-guy aliens. 

 

A stable wormhole--the jump node method of interstellar travel.

Well, guess what? Scientists have found a mysterious object they have tagged “Planet 9” in the outer reaches of our solar system. Some scientists believe the object may be what is known as a “primordial black hole,” that is, one formed in the aftermath of the Big Bang. The hole, if it exists, may be no bigger than a bowling ball and would not be detectable by visible-light or infrared telescopes. Scientists arguing for the existence of the object base their hypothesis on anomalies in the orbits of asteroids, comets and other bodies beyond Neptune, according to the report in NBCNews.com. The only problem is, no primordial black holes have ever been seen before, though they theoretically might exist.

An alternate explanation would be that a huge, undetected planet is causing the gravitational variations. Says a coauthor of the study, James Unwin of the University of Illinois at Chicago, “The discovery of a giant planet in the outer solar system would be an extraordinary discovery. But the discovery of a primordial black hole would be immense and even more spectacular.”

Yes. But a Jump Node leading to another, inhabited, sector of the galaxy? Well, that discovery would really blow our minds, now wouldn’t it? 

 HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAYS TO MY CO-BLOGGERS 

Congratulations to both Sharon Lynn Fisher for the debut this week of The Absinthe Earl (The Faery Rehistory Series Book 1) and to Laurie Green and her co-authors for the fabulous success of Pets in Space® 4. If you haven’t gotten your copies of these great books (one a fantasy/alternate history romance, the other a continuation of the SFR series), better get in line.

Cheers, Donna

 Information for this post drawn from: "Redefine Meat Raises $6M for 3D Printed Meat   Alternatives." by Catherine Lamb, TheSpoon.tech, September 11, 2019.

"Our solar system's mysterious 'Planet 9' may actually be a tiny, ancient black hole," by Denise Chow, NBCNews.com, October 2, 2019.

DAYDREAMERS: SMARTER THAN YOU THINK

Daydreaming is an occupational hazard for writers. In fact, for most of us, it’s a prerequisite for the job. The ability to let your mind go, to wander where it will and collect those plot bunnies and character profiles, is a necessary skill when the task you’re given is to create something out of nothing.

But that talent is not always appreciated. I always did well in school, but I succeeded despite a tendency to stare out the window, lost in my own world. (Teachers prefer that you pay attention to them for some reason.) I’ve also been known to slip in and out of a group conversation, requiring my companions to snatch me back to Earth. Fortunately, I have tolerant friends.

But now comes scientific proof that daydreaming is a sign not of attention deficit (though that can be the case, too) but of intelligence and creativity. A study from the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that a "[p]eople with efficient brains may have too much brain capacity to stop their minds from wandering," according to Eric Schumacher, the Georgia Tech associate psychology professor who co-authored the study with Ph.D. candidate Christine Godwin.

Schumacher and his colleagues studied the brain patterns of 100 people as they lay in an MRI focusing on a single point for five minutes. They then compared this data with information gathered from tests that measured intellectual ability and creativity and questionnaires about how much the subjects’ minds wandered in daily life. Subjects who reported more daydreaming scored higher on intellectual ability and creativity. Their brain patterns also showed more efficiency in the MRI test. (Parts of their brains worked together more smoothly to focus on the fixed point.)

Schumacher says the results show higher efficiency means the brain may be free to wander when performing easy tasks. That is, the smarter you are, the more likely you are to daydream.

"Our findings remind me of the absent-minded professor—someone who's brilliant, but off in his or her own world, sometimes oblivious to their own surroundings," said Schumacher. "Or school children who are too intellectually advanced for their classes. While it may take five minutes for their friends to learn something new, they figure it out in a minute, then check out and start daydreaming."

Of course, Schumacher and his colleagues admit further research is needed to determine when daydreaming may be helpful and when it may be harmful. (My attention-deficit daughter, for example, is highly intelligent, but school was very difficult for her. Too much daydreaming is not a good thing.)

In the meantime, I’ll continue to use my daydreaming skills to come up with wild ideas for my next novels. Just be aware you may have to drag me back to the conversation from somewhere in outer space.

Cheers, Donna

*Information for this post provided by “Daydreaming is Good: It Means You’re Smart,” Science News, October 24. 2017  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171024112803.htm