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Global Warming Update for December 2021: Tornado outbreaks strike the US twice in a week, in December! And that’s not the worse news!

It’s an easy thing to understand, severe weather, as typified by lightning and tornadoes, normally occurs during the warmer part of the year. That’s not only because warm air just has more energy than cold air does but also because warm air carries a lot of moisture with it. You see, because of what chemists call the latent heat of evaporation, water vapour has a lot of energy associated with it, that’s what makes steam engines so powerful!

It takes more than twice as much heat to boil a gram of water already at 100 degrees C than it does to heat a gram of water at 0 degrees C to 100 degrees C. There’s a lot of energy contained in water vapour, that’s why thunderstorms can be so powerful! (Credit: Coquitlam Weather and Climate)

That’s why for decades the spring and summer months in the great plains states were known as ‘Tornado Alley’ where hot, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico would encounter cool, dry air coming down from Canada. These conditions were perfect for the outbreak of tornadoes and year after year growing up I can recall hearing about the their destructive power in states like Oklahoma, Nebraska and to a lesser extent Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. That’s the reason why ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is set in Kansas, ’cause that state was ground zero for tornadoes.

What used to be ‘Tornado Alley’ in the US. Thanks to global warming a much larger part of the country now gets to ‘enjoy’ all those twisters. (Credit: Pinterest)
The Wizard of Oz is set in Kansas because everyone knew that tornadoes were a constant threat in that state. (Credit: Gifer)

Not any more, Tornado Alley is now a much bigger place thanks to global warming. This year massive tornado outbreaks happened in the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia during the months of February and March, cold months that used to have calm weather in the Deep South. And then in early September there was a tremendous outburst of severe storms in the Delaware valley brought on by the passage of the remnants of hurricane Ida. As they were reporting on that storm the local TV meteorologists kept repeating. ‘This doesn’t happen in the Delaware valley, it just doesn’t happen here!” See my post of 8 September 2021. In all this year the Delaware valley has received over 50 tornado warnings from the National Weather Service, more than were called during the first 50 years of my life.

Now the Delaware valley has become a part of ‘Tornado Alley’ as year after year new records are set for severe storms. (Credit: WPVI)

Still the worst was to come, for on the night of the 10th of December, the first month of winter, a huge mass of warm, moist gulf air pushed its way up the Mississippi river valley. Starting in Arkansas and Mississippi a severe thunderstorm erupted that grew in intensity as the storm pushed northward into Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois. Over 50 tornadoes were spotted across 8 states causing a trail of death and destruction. At the latest count more than 90 people are known to have died and almost as many are still missing.

The town of Mayfield in Kentucky saw the worst of the tornadoes with much of the town being reduced to nothing but rubble! (Credit: NPR)

The greatest destruction took place in Kentucky where the town of Mayfield was virtually wiped out by an EF4 tornado with peak winds of 300 KPH. That tornado is now known to have traveled over 200 km and spent more than two hours on the ground. Indeed, it is possible that the Mayfield tornado may have had the longest track of any measured tornado, anywhere, ever! And again, the commentators who described the chaos on TV kept repeating. “This doesn’t happen in December.”

The tornado struck a candle factory in Mayfield while more than 100 employees were at work. Some were rescued from the wreckage but many were not. (Credit: Reuters)

But it happened again not a week later as on the 15 of December as another gulf air mass pushed its way through Nebraska into Iowa and Minnesota. This storm system only produced about 20 tornadoes causing only 5 known deaths. Still, this doesn’t happen in December.

Only a week after Kentucky was struck by tornadoes another severe storm system ignited from Nebraska through Wisconsin. (Credit: National Weather Service)

We have to get used to the plain fact that when it comes to severe weather all the old ‘rules of thumb’ no longer apply. Global warming is simply putting more energy into the sky and that energy is generating more violent, more destructive weather, everywhere. Unprecedented violent storms have become ‘the new normal’.

Seems we’ve had to learn to live with several ‘New Normals’ the past few years, none of them very pleasant. (Credit: UiO)

And there’s even worse news. For at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) a group of researchers announced on the 13th of December that there is strong evidence that the foundation of the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is becoming unstable. This instability could lead to a major breakup of the world’s largest ice formation within three to five years.

Larger than Scotland and averaging more than a kilometre in thickness the Thwaites glacier could cause a sea level rise of a metre or more if it all melted. (Credit: The Sun)

As large as the state of Florida and with ice depths of between 800m and 1 km Thwaites already is pouring an estimated 50 billion tonnes of ice melt into the ocean every year making it responsible for about 4% of current sea level rise. Recent studies however have shown that warm ocean waters have been undercutting the glacier’s foundation and support. Already cracks are appearing on the Thwaites’s surface and the fear is that further undercutting could lead to a massive collapse of the entire glacier.

Warm waters are undercutting the Thwaites glacier. Scientists are now concerned that the whole glacier could become unstable within the next five years. (Credit: Daily Mail)

Such a breakup would be a major disaster for if the entire Thwaites glacier were to slide off into the Antarctic Ocean the result could be a sea level rise of as much as 70 cm! And since Thwaites acts as a roadblock holding back several other large glaciers there is that possibility that a breakup of Thwaites could begin a general destabilization of the whole western part of the Antarctic ice sheet. If that were to occur the resulting rise in sea level could be as much as three meters.

A sea level rise of only one metre (3.3 ft) could submerge a huge portion of the state of Louisiana yet this state is so dependent to the petroleum industry that its members in congress oppose all measures to cut down on carbon emissions. (Credit: Pinterest)

Now such a catastrophe of that scale would not happen overnight but rather over a period of years if not decades. Nevertheless the scientists at the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) are convinced that over the next few years the glacier’s melting will rapidly increase, leading to a large increase in the rate of sea level rise.

The small Louisiana town of Isle de Jean Charles has had to be abandoned due to sea level rise. The people of Isle de Jean Charles are now considered to be America’s first climate refugees. (Credit: NRDC)

Just two more signs that Climate Change is no longer a long term problem, the long term has become the here and now!

Space News for December 2021: More news about Space Stations and Astronomers get a new orbiting X-ray Telescope.

Space tourism is back in the news as Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, the founder and CEO of the e-commerce site Zozotown, has traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Accompanying Maezawa was his own personal assistant and videographer Yozo Hirano who will film his boss’s activities during their 12-day stay in orbit. Unlike the Inspiration 4 tourist flight back in September, Maezawa’s mission also included the veteran Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin as pilot.

Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa (r) with his personal cameraman Yozo Hirano (l) and Russian Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin (c) before takeoff to the ISS. (Credit: PCMag)

Maezawa’s visit to the ISS with his assistant makes eight non-professional, paying customers who have traveled into orbit this year, in addition to the four Inspiration 4 crewmembers there were also the Russian actress and her cameraman / producer back in October. That equals the total number of tourists who had ever flow into orbit before 2021 and is 40% of all the people who went into orbit this year. No matter how you look at it space tourism is now a significant portion of the space industry.

Russian Actress Yulia Peresild spent nearly two weeks aboard the ISS shooting scenes for the first feature film to be shot, partially in orbit! (Credit: CBS News)

Another sign of the growing importance of tourism and just general commercialization in space are the ongoing plans for future commercial space stations. NASA has made it clear that the space agency wants out of the business of running a space station in Low Earth Orbit. In order to move forward on the Artemis program going back to the Moon while maintaining a presence in LOE NASA has decided to help build a commercial space station that it could then rent space on.

Right now the fate of the ISS is very much up in the air. Scheduled to remain in orbit until about 2030 there is talk of sections being used for a new station or the whole thing might be brought down from orbit. (Credit: ESA)

To help finance this effort NASA has provided a combined $416 million dollars to three aerospace firms, Northrop Grumman, Blue Origins and Nanoracks corporations to fund the design phase of their space station efforts. The plan is for the space agency to choose one of the designs in 2025 and then help finance the construction of that commercial space station. NASA would then become one of the tenants of that station while other nations or corporations; even tourists could also be tenants. By the way NASA’s choosing one of the three designs doesn’t mean that the two rejected ones won’t get built. If the commercial space industry really takes off in the next half dozen years there may very well be a need for multiple space stations in LOE.

Illustration of Northrop Grumman’s plan for a commercial space station. NASA is helping to fund the design of this station and would be one of the tenants once the station is built. (Credit: Northrop Grumman Newsroom)

The current schedule is for the ISS continue to provide a home in LOE for astronauts until 2030 while the first modules of any new commercial space station would be launched in 2028 or 29. Nevertheless with China now building its own space station in orbit and the push for a commercial station it won’t be long before things start getting a mite crowded up there.

Blue Origin’s design for a station is called the Orbital Reef. It certainly is fancier than Northrop Grumman’s but in space that’s not always a good thing. (Credit: Spaceflight Now)

Of course LOE isn’t only occupied by space stations, in fact there are thousands of unmanned satellites circling our globe right now, many of them are commercial in nature, like communication satellites. Then there are the satellites designed to look back at the Earth, to study it from a height. These include both weather satellites and landsats.

Then there are the space telescopes designed to study the rest of the universe from outside the limiting effects of Earth’s atmosphere. The most famous of these space telescopes is of course the Hubble space telescope, which has revolutionized astronomy in the years since it was launched. But there are others like the Kepler planet hunting telescope or the Chandra X-ray telescope.

Perhaps the most famous satellite since Sputnik, the Hubble telescope has revolutionized our view of the Universe. (Credit: Business Insider)

On the 8th of December a new X-ray telescope was launched into orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket. At a cost of $188 million dollars the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer or IXPE telescope may not be as newsworthy as the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch on the 25nd of December. Nevertheless in its own way IXPE will have many opportunities to add to our knowledge of such high-energy astrophysical objects as black holes, pulsars and magnetars.

The Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer or IXPE Space Telescope will peer deeply into the heart of astronomical objects such as black holes and pulsars. (Credit: Semantic Scholar)
Launched aboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket the IXPE telescope took off from Kennedy Space Center on December 8th. (Credit: NASAspaceflight.com)

You see the difference between IXPE and the Chandra X-ray telescope is that IXPE measures the polarization of the X-rays it detects. All light, whether visible or X-rays or radio waves have an amplitude that can either go up and down or side to side as the wave travels through space. This is the polarization of the light, either vertical, up and down, or horizontal, side to side.

Most of the light in the Universe is unpolarized, that is made of of many different polarizations. Certain materials only allow a distinct polarization to pass through. This allows scientists to study the conditions under which the light is generated. (Credit: ScienceFacts.net)

In most cases, say the light from the Sun, there is a random mixture of polarizations. Calculations in both quantum electrodynamics and general relativity however tell us that in certain very intense regions, strong magnetic or gravitational fields, the X-rays that are generated should be polarized in certain ways. Therefore by measuring the polarization of the X-rays coming from just outside a black hole’s event horizon, or from the surface of a pulsar IXPE will be able to give astronomers new details about the conditions there.

The first ever image of a black hole. The IXPE telescope will look at the light coming from just outside the event horizon of black holes hopefully revealing some of their secrets. (Credit: NASA)

Every time astronomers look at the Universe in a new way they’ve discovered new details that profoundly changed our knowledge. One can only hope that IXPE, and James Webb when it finally begins operation, will revolutionize astronomy the way that Hubble and Chandra and Kepler already have.’

Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope of Christmas day. Although the launch went perfectly the JWST still has more than a month of travel and several complicated, and critical instrument deployments to carry out before it can be called a complete success. (Credit: Science)

And hopefully astronomers will soon have an even more powerful tools for learning about the Universe as on Christmas day at 1220 GMT the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was successfully launched from French Guyana aboard an Arian 5 rocket. Now I just said that the launch was successful but the JWST still has a lot of complicated maneuvers to complete before it can begin its work of discovery. I intend to discuss the JWST at length in a post in another month or two so, for the moment I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that the telescope’s deployment continues to be a success. 

Topology is the branch of Mathematics that deals with the shapes of objects and spaces. What is it and how do mathematicians and scientists use it?

Did you ever take a rubber or foam ball or other object and squeeze it or pull it, changing its shape. If you did then you performed an operation from a branch of mathematics called Topology, the study of geometric shapes and spaces. That said, much of the work of topologists concerns the relationship between two shapes or the ways that one shape can be morphed into another.

Squeezing, stretching twisting and bending are all operations that can be performed on a geometric shape without changing its basic topological properties. They can also really relieve stress. (Credit: DepositPhotos)

Consider the shape of a baseball and an American football, obviously they are pretty closely related. Pull on the opposite sides of the baseball and you’ll get the shape of a football while if you push in the ends of the football you can make it round like a baseball. If you think about it that’s also true of a frankfurter, it’s just a sphere that’s really been stretched. Stretching, squeezing, twisting and bending are one set of operations that can be performed to change the shape of an object. Two shapes are considered to be homeomorphic if the can be transformed one to the other by only stretching, squeezing, twisting or bending.

Topology also is concerned with the relationships of objects in different dimensions. The 1D ball is of course just a point, 1D anything really, the 2D ball is a circle while the 3D ball is a sphere! (Credit: Science4All)

Now consider the baseball and a doughnut. It’s pretty obvious that you can’t go from one to the other just by Stretching, squeezing, twisting or bending, it’s that hole in the doughnut that makes it a completely different kind of object. In order to make, or eliminate the hole you have to perform an operation like cutting, tearing or gluing. So topology recognizes two distinct classes of operations. On the other hand a doughnut and a coffee mug are considered to be homeomorphic because you can squeeze and massage a doughnut shape into that of the mug, even forming the bowl of the mug, without either cutting tearing or gluing.

It is possible to go from a doughnut to a coffee cup just by squeezing and shaping. The two objects are therefore homeomorphic. (Credit: GMA Network)
Every time you add a hole to a shape it changes the topological properties far more than any amount of squeezing or twisting. (Credit: plus.maths.org)

We can also perform the same sort of exercise with the letters of the alphabet in capitals to discover that they fall into a series of classes:

No holes with a continuous, but not necessarily straight line:

          (C, G, I, J, L, M, N, S, U, V, W and Z)

No holes and three tails: (E, F, T and Y)

No holes and four tails: (H, K, and X)

One hole and no tails: (D and O)

One hole and one tail: (P and Q)

One hole and two tails: (A and R)

Two holes and no tail: (B)

It is simple to see how any member of one class can be transformed into another member of the same class by shaping, but not a member of another class.

Historically Topology is considered to have started with a famous problem stated by the mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1736 known as the ‘Seven Bridges of Königsberg’. In this problem, see figure below, the question is can someone cross all of the seven bridges of the town of Königsberg, modern Kaliningrad, without crossing any bridge twice. The answer is no but obviously the analysis is a study of shape and connections.

The ‘Seven Bridges of Konigsberg’. Go ahead, try crossing all of them without crossing any twice! (Credit: Mathematical Association of America)
Attempts at finding a solution the seven bridges problem led to the development of network theory and yes we’re talking about the World Wide Web, Cable TV etc., etc. (Credit: The Reliants Project)

Other similar problems were studied over the years after Euler. One interesting one is known as the ‘hairy ball’ theorem, which states that it is impossible to comb the hair on a hairy ball without creating a cowlick somewhere. Again the ball can really be any smooth 3D shape, so long as it contains no hole. And in case you think that mathematicians are just playing silly games with a ‘hairy ball’ the more formal name for the theorem, that a continuous tangential vector field on such a surface must be non-vanishing, is of considerable importance in many types of field research.

The ‘Hairy Ball’ problem is another example of what what at first glance seems like a silly joke having real consequences. (Credit: SlidetoDoc.com)

It wasn’t until the year 1847 that Johann Benedict Listing first used the term ‘Topologie’ in an article entitled ‘Vorstudien zur Topologie’. Since that time different topology has seen several distinct sub-subjects develop including algebraic and differential topologies along with the original geometric topology. Other fun sub-subjects of topology are knot theory and set topology.

Another branch of Topology is knot theory. Again what seems like just a fun topic really has tremendous uses. Just imagine each of these knots as a protein! (Credit: SlidePlayer)

In modern science topology is becoming an ever more important mathematical tool. In evolutionary biology the morphing of a clamshell into a snail shell is studied by topology revealing the genetic pathways that generated the two classes of molluscs. In biochemistry the shapes of proteins and nucleic acids are analyzed by knot theory.

Topologically the shells of clams and snails only differ by the directions that they grow, akin to stretching in different ways. Genetics has shown that those different growth patterns are controlled by only a few genes. (Credit: Routledge Handbooks Online)

In physics topology has been used in condensed matter physics along with quantum field theory and perhaps most important of all in cosmology, by studying possible shapes and structures for the Universe as a whole. While some aspects of topology, like the seven bridges problem are both easy to understand and fun to analyze, topology is also a very subtle mathematical discipline, which can take years of study to master. A proposal well worth the effort.

Paleontology News for December 2021. Several new species of Dinosaurs.

To most people paleontology means dinosaurs and although that may be a simplistic viewpoint nevertheless it is the giant skeletons of those ancient creatures that most obviously show how life here on Earth today is very different from what it was in the past. With each new species discovered by paleontologists we get a better picture of how much life in the past differed, and in some ways was very much the same as life today. Here are a few of the latest finds.

Think of fossils and usually this is what comes to mind, Dinosaur bones. (Credit: Field Museum)

At any time in life’s history those plant eating animals that don’t want to get eaten by predators have three basic choices, run fast, fight back or grow armour. In today’s world animals like turtles or armadillos grow either tough hide or bony scales as protection but during the cretaceous period there was a small family of dinosaurs known as the ankylosaurs who possessed perhaps the best armour of all. With it’s back and head covered in bony plates and with a bony club for a tail the best known ankylosaur, Ankylosaurus magniventris was a tough meal indeed for any hungry T rex to chew on.

Normally considered to be a peaceful plant eater I certainly wouldn’t want to get an Ankylosaurus angry at me! (Credit: Cartoon Network Animals)

Now a new species of ankylosaur named Stegouros elengassen has been discovered in Chile whose tail managed to evolve into perhaps the most fearsome weapon ever possessed by a living creature. In fact the tail of S elengassen bears a striking resemblance to the ancient war club / sword called the macuahuitl that was used by Aztec warriors. Even the Spanish conquistadors who defeated the Aztecs were impressed by the macuahuitl, which was constructed from a stout wooden club into which sharp fragments of obsidian had been embedded.

While perhaps not as well protected as A magniventris, Stegouros elengassen’s tail weapon still must have made it a fierce fighter. (Credit: Daily Mail)
Aztec warriors carrying their weapon the macuahuitl. In the century before Columbus the Aztecs conquered much of Mexico with these weapons. (Credit: All That’s Interesting)

Similarly in the tail of S elengassen seven pairs of bony spikes stick out the side and were stiffened by a coating of fused osteoderms that also flattened them into a more lethal knife like or axe like shape. The animal itself was about 2 meters in length and surprisingly its back does not appear to be as well armoured as many of its relatives. Perhaps with that deadly tail it didn’t need so much protection.

Even as just a few old bones that tail of S elengassen looks pretty nasty! (Credit: Nature)

The specimen of S elengassen was discovered at the southern tip of Chile in a cold, windy valley known as the Rio Las Chuinas. Paleontologists from the University of Texas have been working there for the last decade hoping to learn more about the differences between the Dinosaurs of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

As a place to live the Rio Las Chuinas valley at the southernmost tip of Chile may not look appealing but as a place to look for fossils you couldn’t ask for more! (Credit: Flickr)

Now if a single dinosaur excites you what will a herd of dinos do? The find of an entire herd of 11 members of the species Tethyshadros insularis comes from Italy, a nation not well known for dinosaur discoveries. Discovered in a limestone quarry near the northeastern city of Trieste, T insularis lived about 80 million years ago during the cretaceous period and could reach a full length of 5 meters. In addition to being Italy’s largest find in terms of number of dinosaur specimens the discovery also includes the skeleton of ‘Bruno’ the largest and most complete dino skeleton ever found in Italy.

A species of small Hadrosaur, Tethyshadros insularis lived in herds during the cretaceous period in Europe. (Credit: Google Sites)
The skeleton of ‘Bruno’ the largest and most complete dinosaur ever unearthed in Italy. (Credit: Wikipedia)

The study of dinosaur social behavior is a hot topic in paleontology nowadays, back when I was young it was assumed that dinosaurs lived solitary lives the way most reptiles do today. Discoveries such as the Trieste herd have changed that notion however and now it is recognized that many if not most large plant-eating dinosaurs lived in large herds more like large herbivore mammals do today.

It’s now well established that many, perhaps most Hadrosaur species lived in large herds for protection. (Credit: YouTube)

The quarry has been providing dinosaur bones since 1996 along with fossils of fish, crocodiles, flying reptiles and even shrimp. The fossils have been taken to the University of Bologna for study where hopefully more can be learned about the social behavior of this species.

But did the big Sauropods or other groups? (Credit: Deviant Art)

Finally I’d let to end with a story that I hope, I say I hope is just a joke. As I was searching for stories about dinosaurs I came across an article about a ‘Noted Creation Scientist’ who had ‘Discovered’ the reason why men have nipples. Ready, it’s because we used to nurse Dinosaurs!!!

Creationists often talk about men and dinosaurs living together before Noah’s flood, the fact that they have no evidence of any such thing doesn’t seem to deter them at all. (Credit: Patheos)

Of course females of every species of mammal have nipples in order to be able to nurse their offspring. After all we’re called mammals because our females have mammary glands that produce milk and nipples so that our babies can get that milk. Male mammals also have nipples although they have no use for them, and biologists have wondered about that for thousands of years. The consensus opinion is that, since nipples don’t hurt males in any way it’s simply too much trouble, genetically to get rid of them in males while at the same time making sure females have them!

Why do men have nipples. Basically it’s because women need them and it just isn’t worth getting rid of them in men! (Credit: YouTube)

But not according to Dr. Andrew Canard who, when speaking to a semi-annual meeting of Young Earth Creationists and Flat Earthers at Devil’s Den, Australia gave a lecture entitled “The Use and Abuse of Male Nipplage”. In his speech Dr. Canard revealed his faith-based evidence that between the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and Noah’s Flood there was a great deal of Dino on Man nursing going on.

The word Canard can mean either a duck or a tale tale. Several stories about a Doctor Andrew Canard are circulating that must be satire, at least I hope they are. (Credit: Patheos)

As I said, I hope this is all just a joke. The article I got the story from certainly treated it as a joke with the conference quarrelling about whether Boston Cream Pie is a Pie or a Cake as well as other just plain silly arguments. And all of the references I Googled about Dr. Canard also treated him as something of a joke so I think, I hope Man nursing Dino is truly ‘fake news’ but ya never know. Considering some of the lunatic things that actual members of Congress are doing to grab a few headlines the actual lunatics out there must be going crazy, pun intended, to try and stay ahead.

Fortunately while nuts like Dr. Canard, and some members of Congress may seem amusing for a brief while it’s Stegouros elengassen and Tethyshadros insularis and other actual dinosaurs who will always be interesting.

New Research into Xenobots, living Robots made from Animal Cells has now developed an entirely new form of Reproduction, or has it? The answer is a bit Complicated.

In these posts I have spoken several times about advances in Robotics, see posts of 23 February 2019 and 23 November 2019. I have also recently posted about the research underway to develop a totally artificial form of life similar to that which may have been Earth’s first living creature billions of years ago, see post of 25 September 2021. In this post I’m going to discuss research that has been conducted over the last few years to develop ‘living robots’ called Xenobots, research that has found an entirely new method of reproduction, one that is different from that of any known natural life form.

Built from living stem cells Xenobots (r) are designed (l) to perform simple functions. (Credit: Active8 Robots)

Xenobots are the creation of a group of biologists at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University and Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering who teamed with computer and robotics experts at the University of Vermont. Built from the embryonic stem cells of the frog species Xenopus laevis, Xenobots consist of an outer wrapping of skin cells to maintain shape and provide protection with heart muscle cells inside to provide movement. The first Xenobots were announced early in 2020 and had been programmed to perform simple tasks like walk or swim, push objects or carry payloads. The scientists hope to someday fabricate Xenobots that can perform useful functions like gathering up plastic microparticles from the ocean or perhaps be inserted into our bloodstream in order to deliver antibiotics directly to the site of an infection.

The African clawed frog Xenopus laevis. Stem cells from this critter have been used to manufacture living robots. (Credit: Wikipedia)

The Xenobots are designed by a computer algorithm that specifies the placement of both the skin cells and muscle cells in order to carry out the desired function. The actual Xenobot is then assembled biologically from several hundred of the frog cells. The manufactured Xenobots can then survive for several weeks without food and have even been observed to heal themselves after an injury.

Designed by a computer algorithm (top) xenobots can perform simple tasks for up to two weeks, until they starve that is! (Credit: Tom Garrett – Medium)

Now a new ‘species’ of Xenobot, one that looks superficially like the gobbling ‘Pac Man’ character, has been manufactured. This new Xenobot has been designed and assembled in order to gather up several hundred individual frog stem cells and assemble them inside its ‘mouth’. These ‘baby’ Xenobots will, within a few days both resemble and function like its ‘Parent’ Xenobot’. These second generation Xenobots can then go out and repeat the process, gathering up single cells to form grandchild Xenobots.

Designed to move in circles and gather up stem cells the self-replicating xenobots can build a copy of themselves, sort of. (Credit: Popular Science)

This method of reproducing is entirely new, no living creature ‘builds’ its young in this fashion. Single cell organisms split into mother and daughter cell, Multi-cellular creatures either bud asexually or produce offspring by some form of sexual union while viruses reproduce by hijacking a cell’s metabolism and using it to build copies of itself. No known creature in nature gathers up individual cells and assembles then into a copy of itself. According to Joshua Bongard, co-leader of the research at the University of Vermont and a robotics expert, “With the right design…they (the Xenobots) will spontaneously self-replicate.”

Living creatures have evolved many different techniques for reproduction, but the self-replicating xenobots represent an entirely new method unknown in nature. (Credit: Britannica)

Some colleagues of the researchers are not quite so impressed however. They point out that individual frog stem cells will come together and segregate all by themselves without needing a Xenobot to gather them. And the ‘Pac Man’ shaped mouth of the Xenobot actually has to be made surgically by hand in the Xenobots. Perhaps most importantly the ‘baby’ Xenobots produced are smaller than their ‘parents’ because of which the whole process terminates after at most three or four ‘generations’. These facts may make the claims of ‘an entirely new form of reproduction’ seem like a bit too much hype, but even the critics agree that the research being carried out is very interesting. Living organisms are being designed and built to specifications in order to perform desired tasks.

The line between living creatures and manufactured machine is becoming blurry. Is this what Science Fiction called the Cyborg? (Credit: PNews)

Remember that is the goal here, to develop living machines that can help to eliminate plastic microparticles from the oceans, or to swim in our bloodstreams in order to deliver antibiotics directly to an infection. In many ways scientists are now blurring the lines between machine and living creature. Whether it be Artificial Intelligences that can think or Xenobots that can reproduce in the future the choice of mechanical or organic ‘robot’ could depend on the job you need them to do.

Book Review: ‘Red Moon’ by Kim Stanley Robinson

It’s the year 2047 and the colonization of the Moon is well underway. The nation of China has the largest settlement, concentrated at the Lunar south pole while the United States and other nations are based around the north pole. The colonies are concentrated at the poles because of the availability of water there in the form of ice that has lain for millions of years at the bottom of craters that never see the light of the Sun. 

Cover of ‘Red Moon’ by Kim Stanley Robinson: (Credit: Amazon)

Such is the setting for ‘Red Moon’, a new novel by celebrated science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson. Highly regarded for his ability at ‘world building’ Robinson gives a very detailed and convincing picture of the Moon twenty-five years from now as well conditions back on Earth.

Author Kim Stanley Robinson is known for his detailed descriptions of worlds of the future. (Credit: Artists and Climate Change)

The story begins with two passengers aboard a spaceship on their first trip to the Moon. Fred Fredericks is an American ‘quantum engineer’ who is delivering a ‘quantum entangled’ phone to the chief administrator of China’s main base at the south pole. Ta Shu is a Chinese TV travel Guide, feng shui expert and poet who is planning to record several episodes of his program from the Moon. The two men meet and take a liking to each other on their flight and at the hotel where the stay.

Craters near the Moons poles could provide shadows where the Sun never shines. Deposits of Ice in these craters would make them the natural place to construct a Lunar colony. (Credit: SOEST Hawaii)

The action begins when Fredericks goes to deliver the phone to Governor Chang. Now a quantum entangled phone can only communicate with one other phone, we’re not told who possesses the other phone. Any attempt to tap into the connection will break the entanglement and sever the connection so an entangled phone is the most secure means of communication. Before meeting the governor Fredericks is introduced to two other officials and then, as he shakes hands with Chang both the governor and Fredericks collapse, poisoned.

A Quantum entangled phone would be the most secure form of communication possible. (Credit: Walmart)

Fredericks is accused of murdering Chang even though he was also poisoned and nearly died, but the local head of security believes that Fredericks is an innocent patsy and arranges for the American to be sent back to China in the company of Ta Shu. Also being sent back is a young woman named Chan Qi, the daughter of China’s Finance Minister and a known troublemaker.

The Chinese Communist Part is in total control of the world’s most populated nation. Corruption and the misuse of power, always a problem in China, are already causing problems however. (Credit: South China Morning Post)

As you might guess by now the plot of ‘Red Moon’ is one of political intrigue centered in China but really dealing with globalization and control of the world by financial interests. Really, plot wise the novel could easily be taking place in China during the reign of Kubla Kahn with Marco Polo taking the place of the American Fredericks. In many ways ‘Red Moon’ is a story of court intrigue and murder that could be placed in many times and places.

The Italian Merchant Marco Polo meets the Emperor of China Kublai Khan. Some plots are timeless and the story of Red Moon could very well have been set in the time of these two. (Credit: Pinterest)

Robinson is an SF writer best known for his ability as a ‘world builder’ however and he shows off his talents throughout ‘Red Moon’. Whether on the Moon or in Beijing of 2047 the descriptions bring a real sense of concreteness to the local settings, and to the personalities of the characters as well. The descriptions also help to make ‘Red Moon’ a fast paced, easy reading story.

New York City flooded because of Global Warming is another future world described by author Kim Stanley Robinson. (Credit: Amazon.com)

I do have a few criticisms however. One is that the first time we meet the young Chinese woman Chan Qi we are told that she is obviously pregnant and you just know that the baby is going to come at the most inappropriate moment. I don’t think I’m giving away any spoilers here because as I said, you just know, you just know.

When we first meet Chan Qi she is already obviously pregnant. The complications her condition cause in ‘Red Moon’ are actually rather trite. (Credit: Vecteezy)

Also, I know I’m becoming more and more critical of SF novels turning into series and ‘Red Moon’ is the first in yet another series. In Fact the novel ends with Fred and Qi, and the baby having just escaped one attempt on their lives and flying off on a space ship to, they don’t know where!

Even so Robinson’s ability as a wordsmith shines through making ‘Red Moon’ a story worth reading. And I’ll be sure to let you known when I’ve read the sequel! 

New Astrophysics Study proposes another process by which the heaviest elements, such as Gold can be created by Black Holes.

Back in High School we all learned that the objects in our daily life here on Earth are made up of a large number of chemical elements such as oxygen or carbon or iron. We also learned that all of those elements, no matter how different, were themselves made up of only three types of sub-atomic particles the electron, the proton and the neutron. By the way those protons and neutrons are themselves made up of even smaller particles called quarks. At the present time that’s as far down as it goes.

The Periodic Table of the elements, more than 100 different substances, with many different properties, all made from just different combinations of Protons, Neutron and Electrons. (Credit: PubChem)

Now a trillionth of a second after the big bang the Universe was a seething mass of all of the elementary particles that make up what physicists call ‘The Standard Model’. As the Universe expanded and cooled however the quarks combined to form the protons and neutrons. All that took place within the first second after the big bang.

The Standard Model of elementary particles. Physicists think that there is some underlying simplicity beneath this model, like Protons, Neutrons and Electrons for the periodic table, but we haven’t figured it out yet. (Credit: Dreamstime.com)

After that most of the protons just stayed protons becoming hydrogen nuclei so that hydrogen, the simplest element is still the most abundant of all the elements. Later, we think about 2 minutes after the big bang some of the protons and neutrons came together to form helium nuclei. A million years later, as the first stars began to form those were really the only two elements that existed. Before the first stars formed the visible matter in the Universe was about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium by mass. Virtually none of the other elements, like sodium, calcium or copper, were created in the Big Bang.

Our Universe’s baby picture, the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). At this point the only chemical elements that existed were Hydrogen and Helium. Where did the rest come from? (Credit: Wikipedia)

So where did all of those elements come from, where did the carbon, oxygen and nitrogen that make up your body come from. Those elements, and many others were made inside of those first stars; they were generated by the fusion reactions that gave energy to those suns. Beginning with fusing hydrogen into helium as a star starts to run out of hydrogen its core becomes hotter and denser so that it begins to fuse helium into carbon and oxygen and then it will fuse carbon and oxygen to make the elements up to iron.

When a star, such as our Sun, reaches the end of its lifetime and is running out of both hydrogen and helium for fuel it starts to expel a large portion of its mass as a planetary nebula like the famous Ring Nebula shown here. This is how the Universe gets most of it’s Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon and other light elements up to Iron. (Credit: Sky and Telescope)

Iron is a dead end however because you can’t get any more energy by fusing iron so the star’s core can no longer fight the force of gravity and begins to collapse while the outer regions explode as a massive supernova. In that titanic detonation enough energy is released to produce some of the heavier elements such as silver, tin or iodine. Even so those elements are far less common in the Universe than are elements lighter than iron like carbon and oxygen.

The Crab Nebula is the remenants of a supernova explosion. There’s a lot of the lighter elements here but also a small amount of the heavier elements. (Credit: Wikipedia)

Then there are the heaviest elements of them all, elements like gold or lead or uranium. While a tiny amount of these substances may be created in supernovas astrophysicists now think that much of the heaviest atomic nuclei are produced in an even rarer cosmic event than a supernova, the merger of two neutron stars. This hypothesis is gaining favour thanks to the data obtained by gravity wave detectors like the Ligo experiment that have actually observed neutron star mergers.

With our new Gravity Wave Observatories astronomers can now study the mergers of two neutron stars. Theoretical studies indicate this is another source for even the heaviest elements. (Credit: Forbes)

Now a research group at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt Germany, in cooperation with scientists in Belgium and Japan have conducted computer simulations showing how even the heaviest elements could also be produced in the accretion disks that form around black holes. According to Doctor Oliver Just, an astrophysicist and member of the group, “In our study, we systematically investigated for the first time the conversion rates of neutrons and protons for a large number of disk configurations by means of elaborate computer simulations and we found that the disks are very rich in neutrons as long as certain conditions are met.” Which is a fancy way of saying the heaviest chemical elements could be produced in a black hole’s accretion disk.

First ever image of a Black Hole taken by the Event Horizon Telescope. What you’re actually seeing here is the accretion disk around the Black Hole itself. A new study proposes that the accretion disk of Black Holes may be a source for heavy elements. (Credit: Wikipedia)

As matter is drawn into the black hole from the accretion disk the release of energy is so great that some matter escapes before it enters the black hole. This escaping matter could therefore produce a small but constant output of heavy elements.

As matter is pulled into the Black Hole from its accretion disk so much energy is released that a small amount escapes from the polar regions at relativistic speeds. (Credit: Space.com)

At the moment this is just a hypothetical simulation but certainly the accretion disk of a black hole is a location where there is enough energy being released to produce even the heaviest elements. More data from observations of accretion disks is needed so that the group can refine their simulations and fortunately that data is now becoming available thanks to the work of the Event Horizon Telescope,the astronomers who two years ago released the first actual picture of a black hole. See my post of 17 April 2019.

Signals from radio telescopes around the world were combined to produce a single telescope thousands of kilometers in diameter. This ‘Event Horizon Telescope’ took the first ever image of a Black Hole. (Credit: www.ru.nl)

Where the chemical elements came from is a question that scientists have asked since the idea of atoms and elements was first suggested. Today we know a great deal, but there’s still much more to learn.

Movie Review: ‘Belfast’

The new movie ‘Belfast’ from writer / director Kenneth Branagh is a semi-biographical account of his own experiences as a young boy living through ‘The Troubles’ that broke out in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s. And while ‘Belfast’ may not be science fiction it is an important film showing how the smallest of differences between people can be exploited to generate a hate that can last for decades.

‘Belfast’ a new Film from Writer / Director Kenneth Branagh, official Poster. (Credit: IMDB)

Now a bit of self disclosure to start. By descent I am much like Ireland herself, three quarters Irish Catholic and one quarter Scots-Irish Presbyterian so I’ve known about ‘The Troubles’ my entire life and in some sense they are actually inside of me. (I’ve always loved the old George Carlin line, “I used to be Irish-Catholic, now I’m an American, ya grow!”)

The Wisdom of the Irish is always mixed with a little bitter humour. (Credit: AZ Quotes)

And another thing I’ve recognized my entire life is that, if you showed pictures of Irish Catholics and Scots-Irish Protestants to 95% of the people in this world not only wouldn’t they be able to tell the difference between them most probably wouldn’t even know what you’re talking about. Think about it, would someone from China be able to tell? Would someone from Bolivia? Pakistan? Chad?

Throughout “The Troubles’ men like the Protestant Ian Paisley and the Catholic Gerry Adams took advantage of the hated for their own ends. Can you tell which one is which? (Credit: Wikipedia)

The truth is that the people of Northern Ireland are really all the same, one people living together and it takes a lot of hatred and anger to find enough differences to start a quarrel. And maybe that’s true of the whole world, don’t you think?

Actor, Director and now writer Kenneth Branagh escaped ‘The Troubles’ by moving to England. Many others didn’t have that option. (Credit: Disney wiki)

That’s enough sermonizing, back to the movie ‘Belfast’. The story centers around a young boy named Buddy, played by newcomer Jude Hill. Buddy is a Protestant who lives with his family on a street that also has several catholic families so their street becomes one of the centers of violence as ‘The Troubles’ erupt. Buddy’s family includes his mother, played by actress Ciatriona Balfe, his father, actor Jamie Dornan and older brother Will, played by Lewis McAskie.

Newcomer Jude Hill plays young Buddy with wide-eyed innocence. (Credit: MARCA)

Family is a strong theme running throughout ‘Belfast’ nearly every other actor is listed in the credits as ‘Auntie Violet’ or ‘Cousin Vanessa’ or ‘Uncle Sammy’. And family plays a role in the plot because while Buddy’s father wants to protect his family by leaving the country his mother can’t bear the idea of moving to Canada or Australia because, “we won’t have any family there!”

Buddy and his family at the movies. If they added an older sister it could very much be my family! (Credit: Roger Ebert)

As we view the events of ‘Belfast’ through the eyes of a young boy we also see those things that are important to a child, his friends, his toys, TV shows. And from this viewpoint we don’t really learn much about ‘The Troubles’, the causes or the leaders, we simply experience them as sudden, chaotic and frightening. I don’t know if it was director Branagh’s intention to portray the causes of violence as unimportant but that is a message I got, and maybe children who don’t understand the causes of the violence around them are actually wiser than we are.

The causes of violence are many, or maybe we’re just not as evolved as we think we are. (Credit: YWCA Evanston)

And that’s what makes ‘Belfast’ an important movie for today. In a world where those whom we’ve elected to govern us are behaving more and more like bratty children, where any perceived insult is a reason to start shooting, where every issue is viewed through a lens of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ seeing such childish attitudes from a child’s viewpoint may actually remind us that we’re supposed to be adults. Well maybe!

We always grieve for the children whose lives are impacted by war and violence. Of course that’s never stopped us from having wars of other kinds of violence. (Credit: Motherhood)

I do have a few criticisms of ‘Belfast’, one in particular. The movie is mostly filmed in black and white because we all know that the 1960s were in black and white, really some directors just think that black and white gives a film an ‘olde time’ feel. Some parts are in colour however, for example when the family goes to see the movie ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” the movie is in colour. Or when Buddy takes his Grandma, played by Judy Dench, to see a live performance of Dickens ‘Christmas Carol’ the actors on stage are in colour while the audience is black and white. Personally I found the cinematic trickery distracting, and while Northern Ireland in the 60’s may not have been very colourful it wasn’t actually in Black and White. The message of ‘Belfast’ would have been better served if the whole movie had just been in colour, like the reality it sought to reflect.

The city of Belfast has known peace since the ‘Good Friday’ agreement brought power sharing in the north and the formation of the European Union removed the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Now Brexit threatens that peace. (Credit: Queen’s University Belfast)

Still ‘Belfast’ is both an important and a very moving film. By reflecting a chaotic and violent event from the past it portrays very well the madness that’s growing in our world today.

Space News for November 2021.

Lot’s going on this month in both manned and robotic spaceflight, so let’s get to it.

In manned spaceflight the big news this month was the scheduled crew rotation on the International Space Station (ISS) between Commercial Crew 2 and 3 using Space X’s crew Dragon capsule. It speaks to the efficiency of Space X as a provider of manned access to Low Earth Orbit (LOE) that the media had to look hard for a couple of small problems in order to have something to talk about in what is becoming a routine operation.

Space X Dragon Capsule carrying NASA’s Crew 3 arrives at the International Space Station. (Credit: Space News)

The first problem was simply a bit of bad weather at the Kennedy Launch Center in Florida that caused the takeoff of the Crew 3 mission to be delayed more than a week from its initial date of the 31st of October to the 10th of November. Once the weather cleared however the Falcon 9 rocket, carrying three NASA astronauts and one from the European Union, roared to life shortly after 9PM EST. After a flawless flight of about 22 hours the capsule docked successfully at the ISS where the four astronauts will now spend the next six months. Crew 3 is now the fifth manned mission for the Hawthorn California based Space Corporation who has now sent 18 people into space without any serious problems.

Space X Mission Control in Hawthorn California. It’s from here that all Dragon missions, manned and unmanned are directed. (Credit: CNN)

There was also one little problem with the return flight of the Crew 2 mission and the press tried to get some fun out of it. Back in September the Space X Inspiration 4 tourist flight ran into a little difficulty with the Dragon capsule’s toilet, apparently the fan stopped working intermittently and during the three-day mission the toilet leaked a bit of urine. Space X quickly made some modifications to the Crew 3 capsule before it’s flight but the Crew 2 capsule was already in LOE docked at the ISS so when Crew 2 came back to Earth they were ordered to wear diapers during the day long return flight, just in case.

The toilet aboard the Crew Dragon capsule doesn’t allow for a great deal of privacy! (Credit: The New York Times)

Before you start feeling sorry for the Crew 2 astronauts it’s worth pointing out that back in the early days of spaceflight during the two man Gemini Program the Gemini 7 crew of Frank Borman and Jim Lovell spent a then record 14 days in space without any toilet of any kind. The two astronauts admit that by the time they splashed down they smelled pretty bad. That was the norm for all of the Gemini missions. Even today if an astronaut is going outside for a 6-8 hour EVA they will were a diaper.

Two weeks living in a capsule with the volume of a phone booth. Astronauts Borman (r) and Lovell (l) would have loved to have had a leaky toilet! (Credit: NASA)

But the Crew 2 mission did come to a successful completion at 10:33 PM EST on November 9th. The four astronauts splashed down in the gulf coast of Florida after more than 200 days in orbit. Again, the fact that all the press could find to talk about was a leaky toilet is an indication of just how routine spaceflight into LOE has become.

Recovery of the Crew 2 Dragon capsule in the waters off Florida. (Credit: Space.Com)

And while the Crew 3 astronauts were settling in to their new home in LOE on Mars the little helicopter that could is still going strong. The Ingenuity helicopter, the first human built aircraft to fly on another planet, has now completed its 13th flight, after only being expected to carry out five. This latest flight lasted a full 160 seconds and according to a space agency spokesman “stands out as one of Ingenuity’s most complicated.”

Snapshot taken by the Perseverance rover during Ingenuity’s 13th flight on Mars. (Credit: YouTube)

So far the little helicopter has been able to keep up with the Perseverance rover as it treks across Mar’s Jezero crater, the aircraft acting as an aerial scout for the bigger rover. Just how much longer the little helicopter will be able to perform is unknown but Ingenuity has already gone from being just a technical demonstration to an integral part of the Perseverance rover’s mission to explore Mars.

Working as a team the Perseverance Rover can examine any interesting rocks formations spotted by the Ingenuity helicopter. (Credit: Business Insider)

And speaking of technical demonstrations the DART spacecraft was successfully launched aboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket from Vanderberg Air Force Base in California at 1:20 AM EST on the 24th of November. The DART or Dual Asteroid Redirect Test is a NASA mission designed as a first test for possible techniques to defend our planet against an impact from an asteroid.

Launch of the DART spacecraft aboard another Space X Falcon 9 rocket! (Credit: SciTechDaily)

As I discussed in my post of 28th December 2019, the DART spacecraft will travel to the asteroid Didymos, which is orbited by a much smaller asteroid called Dimorphos. The object of the mission is for the DART spacecraft to literally slam into Dimorphos at more than 20,000 kph and hopefully deflect the asteroid’s orbit enough to be observed by Earth based telescopes.

The Mission of the DART spacecraft is to crash head long into an asteroid in an effeort to change the asteroid’s path. (Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Labouratory)

The impact is currently scheduled to take place in late 2022 although determining just how much the smaller asteroid’s path has been changed by the collision may take years to measure. NASA is presently tracking some 2200 asteroid’s that could potentially strike the Earth so that hopefully if any of them are headed our way we would have many years warning. In that case only a minute change in the asteroid’s velocity, years before a collision, would be enough to make it pass by our planet harmlessly.

There are literally thousands of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids out there in our Solar System. Here are the obits of a few. (Credit: Futurism)

Finally, the results of yet another demonstration test by a spacecraft in LOE have been published and in the long run it could prove to be more important that Ingenuity or DART. Last year, in November 2020 a 20kg CubeSat designated NPT30-I2 was placed into orbit. Built by a small aerospace company named ThrustMe the satellite was designed as a test bed for a new design of Ion Propulsion Engine that uses the element Iodine as it fuel.

The Spacecraft Propulsion System you can hold in your hand. The Iodine fueled NPT30-I2 Ion Engine it a big step forward in developing the spacecraft of the future. (Credit: Air and Cosmos)

All previous ion rocket engines, whether used in interplanetary probes such as NASA’s Dawn mission or Japan’s Hayabusa, or as station keeping thrusters for satellites in Earth orbit have employed Xenon gas as their fuel because Xenon is both easy to ionize and since Xenon has a heavy nucleus you get a good push from the gas. But Xenon gas is hard to contain, requiring heavy pressure vessels to store so scientists have been searching for a better fuel. Iodine has many of the same characteristics as Xenon, but it can be stored as a solid, greatly reducing the necessary weight and Iodine is significantly less expensive than Xenon as well.

The amount of thrust you can get from an ion engine is very small but it can continue to fire for literally years making them much more powerful than any type of chemical rocket. (Credit: ThrustMe)

The data published in the journal Nature clearly shows that NPT30-I2 performed well, carrying out its ordered maneuvers with greater efficiency than a comparable Xenon ion thruster. Iodine has its problems as well however; it can be very corrosive so a ceramic container is required to keep it from damaging other equipment. Also, since the Iodine must be converted into a gas before it can be ionized the thruster is not as responsive as one using Xenon as a fuel.

   With each new demonstration that shows promise, and with each success of new technology our ability to live and work in space grows.

Two Stories from Right Beneath our Feet: Geology News for November 2021.

Even if you haven’t experienced one yourself we all know about Earthquakes. Those destructive and often deadly events where the ground shakes and rumbles because two sections of the Earth’s crust are either moving past each other or one is literally shoving itself against the other. These shoving matches come about because the Earth’s crust is divided into a series of what are called tectonic plates that ‘float’ upon the planet’s hotter, soften mantel.

Anyone who has lived through a strong Earthquake knows just how destructive they can be. I lived just south of San Francisco when the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake struck. (Credit: History.com)

While the hard crust is only around 20 kilometers thick on average the Mantel beneath it is much thicker, approximately 3000 kilometers thick. And beneath the mantel lies Earth’s liquid core. This means that, as you go deeper beneath the planet’s surface the rocks become ever hotter and softer until they actually become molten.

The outer Crust of the Earth is hard, cold and brittle. So that’s where most Earthquakes Occur. (Credit: Universe Today)

If you think about it then, Earthquakes must really be a phenomenon of the rocks near the surface, where they are harder and tend to break suddenly and catastrophically. Deeper rocks on the other hand, at hotter temperatures and higher pressures would bend or deform slowly rather than break abruptly. And in fact the greater majority of Earthquakes that geologists have studied since the invention of the seismograph have occurred less than 100 kilometers beneath the surface.

A Seismograph works because the suspended heavy mass stays where it is while the Earth moves beneath it! (Credit: SMS-Tsunami-Warning.com)
Geologists recognize several different types of waves picked up by seismographs. Here is the actual observation of the Loma Prieta Earthquake from Keva in Finland! (Credit: AGU Blogosphere)

In June however an Earthquake was detected near Japan’s Bonin Islands in an area known geologically as the Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc. In this location the vast Pacific Plate is diving beneath the Philippine Sea Plate leading to many small and even some large quakes such as a 7.9 magnitude quake that rattled the Bonin Islands back in 2015. The quake that was detected in June of 2020 is considered to be an aftershock of the 2015 quake and was so weak that it could not even be felt at the surface. What stunned the researchers at the University of Arizona who analyzed the data from Japan’s Hi-net array of seismic sensors however was the depth of the quake’s epicenter, fully 750 kilometers below the surface.

A lonely set of small islands belonging to Japan the Bonin islands were the scene of heavy fighting during WW2. (Credit: Maritime Logistics Professional)
The geological feature Izu-Bonin- Mariana Arc also includes the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world’s oceans. (Credit: Wikipedia)

For a quake to be generated so far down in the lower mantel is quite impossible according to many theories of Earth’s inner structure. What the June quake may therefore be telling us is that the precise depths at which the various layers of the mantel occur may not be exactly where we think they are. It has already been suggested that the mantel beneath the Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc may be different than it is in most areas of the world because it is a subduction zone where the Pacific plate’s crust material is being pushed down under the Philippine Sea plate. That could mean that harder, more brittle rocks are being thrust deeper than we thought they could enabling a rare quake even as far down as 750 km.

Subduction Zones, where one techtonic plate is forced below another are the sources of many geological processes from Earthquakes to Volcanoes. (Credit: USGS.gov)

In any case the 750 km deep Earthquake is a mystery that seismologists will have to study and understand. Hopefully as new, more sensitive sensors like Japan’s Hi-net array become available other deep quakes will be detected giving additional clues as to their nature and allow geologists to better understand the inner workings of our home planet.

The nation of Japan is often subjected to daealy Earthquakes. It’s no wonder therefore that they have built the most sophisticated seismographical network in the world. (Credit: ResearchGate)

Even as geologists study the Earth today in the hope of learning its secrets they are also trying to discover as much as they can about its past. One thing we do know about our planet is that it is a dynamic place, that its face may change slowly but it changes relentlessly. How much that face has changed is the subject of a study undertaken by the Geoscience Department of the University of Queensland Australia.

We’re all familiar with the seven continents but Earth’s face wasn’t always this way. Once our planet was completely covered with water. (Credit: Dashamlav)

We were all taught in grade school that the surface of the Earth is mostly water; only about 30% is dry land making up the seven continents we all know. However there is considerable geological evidence that in the distant past oceans once covered our planet’s entire surface, that there were no continents, just one big ocean. Currently the consensus opinion is that the first continents appeared above sea level about 2.5 billion years ago and that tectonic activity to move the continents began at about the same time.

Current thinking is that the first land appeared above sea level about 2.5 billion years ago and rapidly grew into continents. But is that date correct! (Credit: Reasons to Believe)

The new study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined sandstone deposits from what are considered to be the oldest fragments of land in the world, areas known as cratons in India, Australia and South Africa. Now sand is formed when the rocks in mountains and hills erode due to the action of rain and wind, so you can’t get sandstone until after land exists. Therefore, if you can measure the age of the oldest sandstone then you have a minimum age for the existence of continents.

As the wind and rain erode away the rocks of mountains and hills some of that material will form sandstone. (Credit: YouTube)

 Starting in the Singhbhum craton in the eastern part of the Indian sub-continent the geologists found several formations of ancient sandstone. Within the sandstone they succeeded in extracting grains of the mineral zircon which contains small amounts of the radioactive element uranium. The uranium in the zircons can accurately dated by a technique known as Uranium – Lead dating, the very technique by which the age of the Earth was first measured.

A sandstone formation at Singhbhum craton in India. Could this be the remains of the world’s first beach! (Credit: The Weather Channel)

The measurements obtained showed that the sandstone in India was about 3 billion years old, 500 million years older than what was thought to be the oldest age for land deposits.

The technique by which scientists first measured the age of the Earth itself is the Uranium- Lead dating system. (Credit: YouTube)

Later dating measurements from Australia and South Africa came up with approximately the same age so it appears that before 3 billion years ago several land masses, several continents had poked themselves above the oceans waves. What processes enabled those first continents to form are yet another mystery of the Earth. But knowing exactly when that process took place will help geologists to eliminate some incorrect theories. That’s how science works, by comparing measurements to theories and the more, and more accurate the data the more accurate we can make our theories.