Technology, Science and the Environment.

[The Bear]

There are companies working on being able to grab debris in orbit and have it burn up in the atmosphere, or bring it back down and recycle it. So people are thinking about it, but there is a hell of a lot of stuff up there. So it's very needed. 

Edited 26 March by The Bear

[SpacedX]

On 19/03/2025 at 22:54, blabyboy said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4geldjjge0o

Intriguing.

[oxford blue]

On 19/03/2025 at 22:54, blabyboy said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4geldjjge0o

Intriguing.

The Life Scientific is nearly always an interesting listen; this recent episode about this very topic , with Brian Schmidt who won a Nobel prize for his work on this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00298nf

[blabyboy]

It gets better

 

 

It's a really exciting time to be alive and see this unfolding.

 

I enjoy Anton's explanations and he also contributes to Universe Today which is also a great source of info you often hear before the MSM mention it 

 

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg2xyyj9w5o

 

A second child has died from measles as an outbreak of the highly contagious virus continues to grow in western Texas.

The school-aged child was not vaccinated, had no underlying health conditions and was in hospital suffering complications from measles, Aaron Davis, the vice-president of UMC Health System, told the BBC.

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has faced a backlash over his handling of the outbreak, visited Texas on Sunday in the wake of the death, which is the third overall in recent weeks.

 

A virus is not susceptible to bargaining, prayer or one's denial of what scientifically works and doesn't work against it.

[The Bear]

The key words there are "not vaccinated". 

 

Some parents think they know better than doctors and have a grudge against the pharmaceutical companies. Either that or they have some stupid belief system stopping them. 

[leicsmac]

10 minutes ago, The Bear said:

The key words there are "not vaccinated". 

 

Some parents think they know better than doctors and have a grudge against the pharmaceutical companies. Either that or they have some stupid belief system stopping them. 

Yep.

 

And again, they are going up against a force of nature that really doesn't care about their beliefs or their grudges - only scientific fact matters to it.

 

Honestly don't know how some folks don't grasp that.

[HighPeakFox]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

Yep.

 

And again, they are going up against a force of nature that really doesn't care about their beliefs or their grudges - only scientific fact matters to it.

 

Honestly don't know how some folks don't grasp that.

Many many people do not have any wish to be educated or informed. 

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, HighPeakFox said:

Many many people do not have any wish to be educated or informed. 

Yes.

 

And unfortunately, quite often the consequences of that aren't limited just to them.

[CheeseHead]

1 hour ago, HighPeakFox said:

Many many people do not have any wish to be educated or informed. 

I've heard that Darwin's Theory of Evolution is deliberately not taught at all in educational institutions across some southern states in the U.S.

 

Shocking and sad if true.

[davieG]

From Facebook?

 

 

Amazing Facts  · 

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A 35-mile rift in Ethiopia opened in 2005 — proof that Africa is literally tearing in two and forming a new ocean.

Beneath the scorching expanse of East Africa’s Afar region, a dramatic geological transformation is slowly unfolding — Africa is literally splitting apart.

Recent satellite data and GPS measurements have enabled scientists to closely monitor the East African Rift System, a unique tectonic environment where three plates—the Nubian, Somali, and Arabian—are pulling away from one another.

This rifting process, which has been underway for millions of years, is progressing at rates of mere millimeters to centimeters annually. But over geological time, it’s building toward a monumental shift: the birth of a new ocean and the eventual separation of East Africa into a distinct landmass.

This process is most visibly exemplified by a 35-mile-long fissure that cracked open in Ethiopia’s desert in 2005—an abrupt event that simulated hundreds of years of tectonic activity in just a few days. Scientists, including volcanologists and geophysicists, believe that this and other sudden rifting episodes are fueled by rising magma, creating immense pressure within the Earth’s crust. The Afar region, known as one of the few terrestrial analogs for mid-ocean ridges, offers a rare glimpse into the mechanisms that transform continental rift zones into oceanic basins. Over the next 5 to 10 million years, water from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden is expected to inundate the rift valley, forming a new ocean and reshaping the map of Africa forever.

learn more

https://www.nbcnews.com/.../african-continent-very-slowly...

Top image

https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=221113

Bottom image

CC BY-SA 3.0 / Twitter

Text and top image added

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[davieG]

From  Facebook?

Unusual Tales  · 

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In 1963, off the coast of Iceland, something extraordinary happened—a brand-new island was born. Deep beneath the ocean, a volcanic eruption spewed lava into the freezing Atlantic waters. Over the next four years, the island of Surtsey emerged from the sea, one of the youngest islands on Earth.

But what happened next astonished scientists. In just a few decades, erosion, wind, and waves sculpted cliffs, canyons, and beaches—features that some believed took much longer to form. This dynamic transformation makes Surtsey a living laboratory, where researchers observe how land evolves and how life colonizes brand-new terrain.

Today, moss, birds, and even small plants have begun to thrive on Surtsey, proving how quickly ecosystems can take root. Protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this incredible island remains off-limits to the public, allowing scientists to study how life finds a way on untouched land.

Surtsey reminds us that the Earth is always changing, and sometimes, nature works faster than we ever imagined.

#EarthUncovered #NaturalWonders

~Unusual Tales

[davieG]

Unify   · 

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By understanding the underlying geometry of the structures nature, we are able to modify our technology to act in harmonious collaboration with nature, rather than literally blowing nature up (combustion) in order to "make energy".

Here we see a very large solar array using the wisdom of natures Fibonacci number spiral patterning to most efficiently point solar radiation towards the center tower thereby heating up a giant salt crystal to make energy that turns a turbine to make electricity.

[dsr-burnley]

On 15/04/2025 at 10:14, davieG said:

Unify   · 

Follow

 

By understanding the underlying geometry of the structures nature, we are able to modify our technology to act in harmonious collaboration with nature, rather than literally blowing nature up (combustion) in order to "make energy".

Here we see a very large solar array using the wisdom of natures Fibonacci number spiral patterning to most efficiently point solar radiation towards the center tower thereby heating up a giant salt crystal to make energy that turns a turbine to make electricity.

Must cost a bob or two to keep the glass polished.

[Zear0]

21 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

Must cost a bob or two to keep the glass polished.

Get a hell of a tan doing it though

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39jj9vkr34o

 

Scientists have found new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.

A Cambridge team studying the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b has detected signs of molecules which on Earth are only produced by simple organisms.

This is the second, and more promising, time chemicals associated with life have been detected in the planet's atmosphere by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

But the team and independent astronomers stress that more data is needed to confirm these results.

 

For me, there was always life - if only of the simple microbial type - out there. It's just a matter of finding it and confirming it.

[Sampson]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39jj9vkr34o

 

Scientists have found new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.

A Cambridge team studying the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b has detected signs of molecules which on Earth are only produced by simple organisms.

This is the second, and more promising, time chemicals associated with life have been detected in the planet's atmosphere by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

But the team and independent astronomers stress that more data is needed to confirm these results.

 

For me, there was always life - if only of the simple microbial type - out there. It's just a matter of finding it and confirming it.

Yeah was just reading that. It looks genuinely possible from what I’m reading, which like an incredible milestone in our existence if true.

Edited 17 April by Sampson

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Yeah was just reading that. It looks genuinely possible from what I’m reading, which like an incredible milestone in our existence if true.

It is a distinct possibility, yes.

 

Unfortunately we'll not be able to prove it beyond telescopic observation until we (somehow) master FTL travel.

[The Bear]

For me it was always guaranteed that there'd be simple microbial life out there everywhere. 

 

It's then a big leap from that to having the long term stability to eventually evolve into complex life though. Just took the 3 billion years on our planet. 

[whoareyaaa]

 

5 hours ago, The Bear said:

For me it was always guaranteed that there'd be simple microbial life out there everywhere. 

 

It's then a big leap from that to having the long term stability to eventually evolve into complex life though. Just took the 3 billion years on our planet. 

If it has happened here then there is no reason to suggest it couldn't happen elsewhere with how vast the universe is.

[kristianity77]

Fascinates me all this stuff about space, the universe and everything that goes with it.

 

i genuinely believe Brian Cox is the only man who could talk me in to bed 😂

[leicsmac]

13 minutes ago, kristianity77 said:

Fascinates me all this stuff about space, the universe and everything that goes with it.

 

i genuinely believe Brian Cox is the only man who could talk me in to bed 😂

Always found it fascinating.

 

Necessary, too. Out there lies the keys to the future of our biosphere and everything on it, including ourselves.

[The Bear]

4 hours ago, whoareyaaa said:

 

If it has happened here then there is no reason to suggest it couldn't happen elsewhere with how vast the universe is.

Well yeah but we'll never see it. Or they us. 

[whoareyaaa]

29 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Well yeah but we'll never see it. Or they us. 

Call me crazy but i don' think we just evolved from a meteor 

[The Bear]

Just now, whoareyaaa said:

Call me crazy but i don' think we just evolved from a meteor 

I don't understand you. Are you suggesting life on Earth was from panspermia?