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davieG

Technology, Science and the Environment.

By davieG, in General Chat

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-66185535

 

"As John Kerry touches down in China, the main question will be whether the world's biggest superpowers - and polluters - can dispel diplomatic tensions to focus on key climate goals.

Mr Kerry, the US special envoy on climate, is the latest top official to be dispatched from Washington following visits by Antony Blinken and Janet Yellen - as the US seeks to restart stalled relations with Beijing.

He will meet his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua and other officials on his four-day trip. Mr Kerry's office says he wants to engage with China on "increasing implementation and ambition", and ensuring a successful COP28, the UN climate change conference scheduled for the end of the year."

 

One would hope that being currently threatened by one of the worst heatwaves and some of the worst flooding in recorded history in their respective countries would focus their minds on the matter.

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Dahnsouff

Dahnsouff

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Bit the bullet and opted into the company salary sacrifice with Octopus and ordered an EV/go kart

The specific car/battery was chosen to hopefully make use of bi-directional charging as time progresses


Other random environmental stuff that does my nut in

(could be my ignorance)

  • Renewables are a bit bollocks without suitable storage/battery capacity
  • Offer (more obviously) domestic batteries that charge off during peak windows and are utilised at  peak times (fgs)
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FoxesDeb

FoxesDeb

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We've got our first local wildfire of the season, it's about 4kms away, but thankfully now under control. 

 

Unfortunately it seems to have taken out the electrical supply for the local fibre internet, so I'm not sure how I'm going to work tomorrow.  

 

It's just weather though, right?!

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leicsmac

leicsmac

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Interesting news from a scientist friend of mine:

 

"A room temperature and ambient-pressure superconductor has been announced, which is effective at temperatures of up to 127°C (though cooler is better, and it works very nicely in t-shirt weather).
If this replicates, it could have immense impact on our global economy, though vastly improved technologies in the domains of batteries, CPUs, wireless networking, quantum computing, nuclear fusion, and maybe even pocket MRI machines.
Moreover, the authors say that it can be prepared from a mix of lead and copper phosphate, and (biologically sourceable) apatite crystals, baked in a kiln for 10 hours. In theory, any high school science lab could knock this stuff together.
Many of us are reeling from the advances in AI recently, but we may be off to the races yet again in a whole other domain. Furthermore, with those potential CPU enhancements... well, all bets may be off on AGI timelines also."
 
 
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leicsmac

leicsmac

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https://www.space.com/venus-clouds-phosphine-evidence-debate

 

The Venus phosphine saga continues.  In September 2020, a team of scientists led by Jane Greaves of Cardiff University in Wales reported the detection of phosphine, a possible indicator of life, in the clouds of Venus. The announcement sparked a heated debate and a surge of follow-up studies, which have generally failed to spot the intriguing molecule in the Venusian atmosphere.  

 

Now there's a new twist.

 

Speaking at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting 2023 in Cardiff this week, Greaves revealed the discovery of phosphine deeper in the atmosphere of Venus than it had been spotted before. Using the James Clark Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, Greaves and her colleagues delved into the atmosphere of Venus, down to the top and even the middle of the planet's clouds.

 

Remember all the brouhaha back in 2020 about phosphine on Venus? Well, they've found it again. Doesn't mean there's life there, but finding it again certainly implies that it exists.

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The Bear

The Bear

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Posted
1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.space.com/venus-clouds-phosphine-evidence-debate

 

The Venus phosphine saga continues.  In September 2020, a team of scientists led by Jane Greaves of Cardiff University in Wales reported the detection of phosphine, a possible indicator of life, in the clouds of Venus. The announcement sparked a heated debate and a surge of follow-up studies, which have generally failed to spot the intriguing molecule in the Venusian atmosphere.  

 

Now there's a new twist.

 

Speaking at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting 2023 in Cardiff this week, Greaves revealed the discovery of phosphine deeper in the atmosphere of Venus than it had been spotted before. Using the James Clark Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, Greaves and her colleagues delved into the atmosphere of Venus, down to the top and even the middle of the planet's clouds.

 

Remember all the brouhaha back in 2020 about phosphine on Venus? Well, they've found it again. Doesn't mean there's life there, but finding it again certainly implies that it exists.

Must be where all the aliens hide their UFOs before they visit us. Right on our doorstep. 

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leicsmac

leicsmac

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On 01/08/2023 at 21:50, Free Falling Foxes said:

Whoops!

Hopefully, communication can be re established later this year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66408851

 

Nasa is back in full contact with its lost Voyager 2 probe months earlier than expected, the space agency said. 

 

In July a wrong command was made to the spacecraft, sent to explore space in 1977, changing its position and severing contact. 

 

A signal was picked up on Tuesday but thanks to an "interstellar shout" - a powerful instruction - its antenna is now back facing Earth.

 

Thankfully, a mistake very quickly remedied.

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st albans fox

st albans fox

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Posted
On 26/07/2023 at 08:44, Sparrowhawk said:

Well, let's hope this doesn't happen, eh?

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/25/gulf-stream-could-collapse-as-early-as-2025-study-suggests

Poor journalism 

the Gulf Stream can’t collapse unless the earth stops turning 

 

the part of the Gulf Stream which delivers warmer waters to the area between Scandinavia and Iceland could wain over the next decade 

 

that won’t hugely affect nw europe but obviously could well make western Scandinavia and Iceland colder than currently 

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SpacedX

SpacedX

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The Perseids meteor shower peaks this Saturday night, best observed around midnight and this year the maximum is about three days before the New Moon, so conditions are favourable. As the planet rotates, the 'radiant' Perseus appears above the horizon about 10 p.m. and Earth turns toward the heavier meteor traffic overnight so they tend to be most commonly sighted to the north-east. The show typically begins 11 p.m., and gains in intensity toward daybreak, but it is possible to see them any time after sunset. Unfortunately, what a shock, Saturday is set to be cloudy over much of the UK, so perhaps the best time would be tonight - although in Leicestershire, partial cloud is moving in - avoiding light pollution and allowing 20-30 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust. 

 

Without meaning to lower the tone, Priapus is a Roman God of fertility, who was believed by the Romans to have fertilised the fields by spunking on them once a year on the date that the shower peaks. Galactic cumshots. 

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Daggers

Daggers

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Posted
26 minutes ago, Line-X said:

 

Without meaning to lower the tone, Priapus is a Roman God of fertility, who was believed by the Romans to have fertilised the fields by spunking on them once a year on the date that the shower peaks. Galactic cumshots. 

 

f1xs6imwk4341.jpg

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66562629

 

Russia's unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control, officials say.

It was Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years.

The craft was due to be the first ever to land on the Moon's south pole, but failed after encountering problems as it moved into its pre-landing orbit.

 

Oh dear.

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ozleicester

ozleicester

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18 hours ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66562629

 

Russia's unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control, officials say.

It was Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years.

The craft was due to be the first ever to land on the Moon's south pole, but failed after encountering problems as it moved into its pre-landing orbit.

 

Oh dear.

$200 Million wasted while people are homeless and starving.. the moon trips are meaningless wastes of money and expertise

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leicsmac

leicsmac

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33 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

$200 Million wasted while people are homeless and starving.. the moon trips are meaningless wastes of money and expertise

Up until the asteroid with a highly democratic approach to human life and suffering is found to be on a collision course.

 

I can think of far bigger wastes of both money and life.

 

But then we've talked about this before and I'm simply not as misanthropic.

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SpacedX

SpacedX

Posted
Posted (edited)
41 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

$200 Million wasted while people are homeless and starving.. the moon trips are meaningless wastes of money and expertise

They really aren't. The irrepressible and insatiable desire to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we know and where we have been has provided benefits to our society for millennia. In addition to research and natural resources, space exploration helps to address fundamental questions about our place in the Universe and the history of our solar system. More pressingly, as a species, we need to find a way to get off this rock because out tenancy will eventually run out - nature will see to that. 

 

EDIT TO ADD:

 

The ill fated Luna - 25 would have been searching for water ice in the lunar south pole. There are craters that are permanently in the shade. Hoping for better news for Chandraayan 3 this week. 

Edited by Line-X
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