The N&G Science Discussion Thread

Coming from one the snarkiest human beings that I've ever encountered who is more than happy to lay into people for even the most minor faux pas’ I would thought you’d have been able to take being called out on your own ignorance. Seemingly not.
Snark and trolling are not the same thing. See ya never.
 
I have an affinity for brain research.
I find this so fascinating. Maybe we aren't doomed yet.

One such study, published in PLOS One in 2016, examined the neural activity of pilots and co-pilots during a flight simulation. In this case, the environment remains the same but the level of cooperation varies throughout the task. Pilots and co-pilots exhibited high levels of inter-brain connectivity during takeoff and landing because they needed to act as a team, yet they showed lower levels during the cruise phase of the flight when the two pilots acted independently.

A potential explanation: Functional links across brains increase when people work together, but not for those who are competing or taking on identical tasks simultaneously.

In a different study from 2018, greater neural synchronization occurred between subjects when they were told to complete a puzzle together. Synchronization levels dropped when the same subjects had to complete identical puzzles individually, or when both watched other people finish one.

As for the subjective experience of individuals in such studies, higher feelings of cooperativeness were aligned with higher levels of neural synchronization. Additionally, study participants’ level of inter-brain synchrony could predict subjective feelings of engagement, affinity, empathy and social connection.


 
I have an affinity for brain research.
I find this so fascinating. Maybe we aren't doomed yet.

One such study, published in PLOS One in 2016, examined the neural activity of pilots and co-pilots during a flight simulation. In this case, the environment remains the same but the level of cooperation varies throughout the task. Pilots and co-pilots exhibited high levels of inter-brain connectivity during takeoff and landing because they needed to act as a team, yet they showed lower levels during the cruise phase of the flight when the two pilots acted independently.

A potential explanation: Functional links across brains increase when people work together, but not for those who are competing or taking on identical tasks simultaneously.

In a different study from 2018, greater neural synchronization occurred between subjects when they were told to complete a puzzle together. Synchronization levels dropped when the same subjects had to complete identical puzzles individually, or when both watched other people finish one.

As for the subjective experience of individuals in such studies, higher feelings of cooperativeness were aligned with higher levels of neural synchronization. Additionally, study participants’ level of inter-brain synchrony could predict subjective feelings of engagement, affinity, empathy and social connection.




Competition has been overly fetishized in our culture. Cooperation has gotten us a lot further.
 

This is interesting. Though I wonder what the offset of generating the electricity to zap cow poop is and if it is net better for the environment.
Question is also if the methanogenisis is only delayed and happening when the fertilizer is added to the ground afterwards
 
Good question. Ideally it would stay locked in the fertilizer until absorbed by organic life.
actually i do not know enough about the way these fertilizers are taken in by plants butfertilizers are mostly added for the nitrogen ansd phosphorus you want to get into the plants and not so much the organic part.
 
California to ban all small gas engines.

This would include lawn mowers, leaf blowers and rotatillers and what not.

Collectively, small gas engines release far more smog generating particles than all the cars in California.

The average use of small gas engines releases the equivalent pollution of driving a car from LA to Denver.
 
There has been a lot of buzz about whether or not 5G poses a serious safety issue for airports.

For the last couple months both airlines and airplane manufactures have been calling 5G incredibly dangerous when near airports have have been calling for the mobile carriers to stop their rollouts.

Until just recently, the national rollout of 5G was going to move forward at full speed. Now both Verizon and AT&T have paused their rollout near "key airports".


International Airline Emirates just learned about the 5G safety issues in the United States and is scrambling to cancel flights to the United States.


The issue is altimeters. Airlines believe that 5G signals can cause interference with altimeters making it dangerous to land in limited or no visibility.

This issue seems to be hotly debated. Some people are concerned, others are saying it's overblown and the risk posed by 5G is slim to none. One common argument I have heard is it's not an issue in the rest of the world and airplanes have been safely operating around 5G service in other countries.


This article though does paint some light on why it's an issue in the United States and not other countries.

In the United States the airwaves are very congested and all the spectrums are used. The spectrum approved by the FCC for 5G in the United States is close to that of which altimeters use, thus an increased chance of interference compared to other countries.

How much interference could close spectrum of signals really cause? Is this a theoretical issue or proven that the close spectrums will cause altimeters to get incorrect readings.

And where do we go from here with the 5G rollout and airport safety?
 
Apparently the equipment manufacturers and scientists / engineers say there is no safety issues posed by 5G.

The actual issue is we live in a "prove it" environment, especially when aviation is concerned.

When the FCC approved the 5G spectrum for use in the United States, they made sure there was a built-in buffer between the spectrum used by 5G and that used by aircraft. This built-in buffer mathematically makes it impossible for there to be any actual interference between frequencies in theory according to the scientists / engineers.

However, "in theory" is is the key issue here. The FAA, airlines and airplane manufacturers want scientific proof and real life data that shows that there will be no interference. And that is the catch22. How you prove it in real life examples is by fly aircraft thousands of times landing testing the altimeters for interference with active 5G. And as far as aviation is concerned, they won't take the chance to test this in real life scenarios.

Since they won't accept the frequency scientists answers on this here we are. 5G will have major impacts on flights causing disruptions where 5G is activated around airports. And the rollout of 5G is being paused near key / major airports.

5G use from other countries where it is near airports is not acceptable data for real life scenarios because it is on a different spectrum not so close to the one aviation uses.

Talking to a coworker about this, his thoughts are it's not real science if you don't prove it in experiments. He says they need to experiment over some wide open area like Idaho.

He's also concerned about 5G already being turned on in Boston for more than a year right near the airport. He lives right by the airport and is worried about a plane crashing.

Weather related flight disruptions are up in Boston since the 5G rollout. If there is low visibility, flights are being canceled or diverted to other airports simply because 5G is activated in the area and they don't want to take the chance.


Also, saying 5G is the safety issue is really bad reporting.

5G is not the issue, but rather a newly released C-band 5G spectrum (3.7-3.98 GHz); which the FCC auctioned off the rights to back around the end of 2020. That's quite near the radar altimeter operating frequencies of (4.2-4.4 GHz).

So it's just the C-band spectrum that's the issue. But it seems like we are talking about and handling it like a blanket of all 5G both in reporting and rollout / safety concerns around airports.
 
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It looks like the C-band spectrum is fairly new. Not just in the United States, but around the world.

Europe is just starting to adopt the C-band 5G spectrum as well and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said last month "no risk of unsafe interference has been identified in Europe".

One key difference though between Europe and the United States is the United States is using higher powered towers.

It also appears the FAA's concerns over 5G is not the C-band itself, but rather around half the commercial airplanes flying in the United States are using equipment which is not certified for use in environments around C-band. The airline industry is sluggish, and much of their equipment can be dated. It's not uncommon for a plane to be 30 years old in service or the equipment in a new plane being based on 40 year old designs for systems like radar altimeters.

The FAA would like to see the airlines update their equipment or get it certified to operate in environments around 5G. Airlines don't want to pay for this and are calling it a safety issue with 5G. The two industries are colliding as the fast paced ever changing telecommunications industry and the very sluggish to change airline industry.

Airlines believe they should have to adapt, but rather anything that could be a potential safety issue should not be allowed near airports. The pause of the 5G rollout near key airports is only until airlines update or certify their equipment. But at the rate they are moving, 5G will be replaced by something else by the time they give the go ahead to resume the rollout near airports.

It's probably going to come down to making the telecommunications giants pay for the airlines to upgrade / certify their equipment or having no 5G C-band service around airports in the United States.

To me this sounds much more like a money issue than safety issue.
 

The Universe is not going to collapse and start over again according to Neil Degrasse Tyson. It's just going to expand forever and have a slow death as everything cools down and reaches absolute zero. All processes will stop.

There is one alternative to this slow death though. And that is as the universe continues to expand it will speed up it's expansion. And it could reach a point where it's expanding so fast in approx 22 billion years that the fabric of space itself rips.
 

The Universe is not going to collapse and start over again according to Neil Degrasse Tyson. It's just going to expand forever and have a slow death as everything cools down and reaches absolute zero. All processes will stop.

There is one alternative to this slow death though. And that is as the universe continues to expand it will speed up it's expansion. And it could reach a point where it's expanding so fast in approx 22 billion years that the fabric of space itself rips.
can’t come soon enough imo
 

The Universe is not going to collapse and start over again according to Neil Degrasse Tyson. It's just going to expand forever and have a slow death as everything cools down and reaches absolute zero. All processes will stop.

There is one alternative to this slow death though. And that is as the universe continues to expand it will speed up it's expansion. And it could reach a point where it's expanding so fast in approx 22 billion years that the fabric of space itself rips.
There are a few competing theories about how the universe will progress, the 'heat death' of the universe is just one of these.

The sun will have exploded long before then though.
 
There are a few competing theories about how the universe will progress, the 'heat death' of the universe is just one of these.

The sun will have exploded long before then though.
It would quite an experience to be ripped apart at the atomic level though. Kinda bummed I will probably die of heart disease or cancer.
 
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