livescience--2020-10-13--Black hole caught turning a poor star into spaghetti

A black hole in a galaxy not far from gobbled up a star like it was a big , exploding noodle , and astronomers got a front-row seat to the action .
The `` unfortunate star , '' as the researchers called it in their paper , was orbiting in the dense nucleus of a galaxy with the unwieldy name 2MASX J04463790-1013349 about 214 million years ago when it found itself on a doomed path .
It had wandered too close to the galaxy 's central , supermassive black hole .
And that black hole stretched it out like spaghetti @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Scientists literally call this process `` spaghettification . ''
) Light from this act of stellar cannibalism reached Earth in 2019 .
Researchers have detected events like this before , but never so soon after the destruction and never so nearby .
The black hole ate its noodly plasma dinner just 214 light-years from Earth .
`` The idea of a black hole 'sucking in ' a nearby star sounds like science fiction .
But this is exactly what happens in a tidal disruption event , '' Matt Nicholl , a University @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the paper , .
The paper was published today ( Oct. 12 ) in the journal .
Related : 8 ways you can see Einstein 's theory of relativity in real life Spaghettification happens because of how sharply increases as you approach a large black hole .
If you dropped feet-first down a black hole 's gravity well , at some point the gravity on your feet would be much stronger than the gravity on your head .
It would stretch you out until all your skin , skeleton and guts looked like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gross noodle ) .
The same thing happens to stars as they plunge into supermassive black holes , which can be millions of times their mass .
Astronomers have still never actually watched the initial stretching process itself , but this is the closest they 've ever gotten .
Wide-view telescopes spotted a flash of light from the system , the signature of a `` tidal disruption event . ''
As a star is ripped apart , some of its innards end up in the disk of swirling matter around the black hole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
At the same time , clouds of dust and other material blast out into space , shrouding regions of the black hole from view .
Soon after the first flash , telescopes all over the world whirled around to watch this happen .
`` Because we caught it early , we could actually see the curtain of dust and debris being drawn up as the black hole launched a powerful outflow of material with velocities up to [ 6,200 miles per second ] 10,000 kilometers per second ] , '' co-author of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ University astrophysicist , said in the statement .
`` This unique 'peek behind the curtain ' provided the first opportunity to pinpoint the origin of the obscuring material and follow in real time how it engulfs the black hole . ''
Over the course of six months , the researchers watched the material flow into space and then watched the tidal disruption fade .
The astronomers also confirmed for the first time the direct link between the flash of light and the outflowing material .
`` The star had roughly the same mass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it lost about half of that to the monster black hole , which is over a million times more massive , '' Nicholl said .
The researchers said the event , which they termed AT 2019qiz , could help them unlock secrets of more obscure tidal disruption events around other black holes , and understand how the extreme gravity of black holes warps matter in their surrounding space .

An image shows part of the Very Large Telescope, operated by the European Southern Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. The telescope was instrumental in watching the spaghettification event.
Editor's note: This article was updated at 4:50 p.m. EDT Oct. 13 to reflect that the black hole is 214 million light years from Earth, not 214 light years.
A black hole in a galaxy not far from Earth gobbled up a star like it was a big, exploding noodle, and astronomers got a front-row seat to the action.
The "unfortunate star," as the researchers called it in their paper, was orbiting in the dense nucleus of a galaxy with the unwieldy name 2MASX J04463790-1013349 about 214 million years ago when it found itself on a doomed path. It had wandered too close to the galaxy's central, supermassive black hole. And that black hole stretched it out like spaghetti and swallowed it one big gulp. (Scientists literally call this process "spaghettification.") Light from this act of stellar cannibalism reached Earth in 2019. Researchers have detected events like this before, but never so soon after the destruction and never so nearby. The black hole ate its noodly plasma dinner just 214 million light-years from Earth.
"The idea of a black hole 'sucking in' a nearby star sounds like science fiction. But this is exactly what happens in a tidal disruption event," Matt Nicholl, a University of Birmingham astrophysicist and lead author of the paper, said in a statement .
The paper was published today (Oct. 12) in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
Related: 8 ways you can see Einstein's theory of relativity in real life
Spaghettification happens because of how sharply gravity increases as you approach a large black hole. If you dropped feet-first down a black hole's gravity well, at some point the gravity on your feet would be much stronger than the gravity on your head. It would stretch you out until all your skin, skeleton and guts looked like a long string (or a really gross noodle). The same thing happens to stars as they plunge into supermassive black holes, which can be millions of times their mass.
Astronomers have still never actually watched the initial stretching process itself, but this is the closest they've ever gotten. Wide-view telescopes spotted a flash of light from the system, the signature of a "tidal disruption event." As a star is ripped apart, some of its innards end up in the disk of swirling matter around the black hole and shine brightly before they're swallowed. At the same time, clouds of dust and other material blast out into space, shrouding regions of the black hole from view. Soon after the first flash, telescopes all over the world whirled around to watch this happen.
"Because we caught it early, we could actually see the curtain of dust and debris being drawn up as the black hole launched a powerful outflow of material with velocities up to [6,200 miles per second] 10,000 kilometers per second]," co-author of the study Kate Alexander, a Northwestern University astrophysicist, said in the statement. "This unique 'peek behind the curtain' provided the first opportunity to pinpoint the origin of the obscuring material and follow in real time how it engulfs the black hole."
Over the course of six months, the researchers watched the material flow into space and then watched the tidal disruption fade. The astronomers also confirmed for the first time the direct link between the flash of light and the outflowing material.
"The star had roughly the same mass as our own sun, and... it lost about half of that to the monster black hole, which is over a million times more massive," Nicholl said.
The researchers said the event, which they termed AT 2019qiz, could help them unlock secrets of more obscure tidal disruption events around other black holes, and understand how the extreme gravity of black holes warps matter in their surrounding space.
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-13--The coronavirus can last for 28 days on some surfaces

A research group in Australia has just published what appears to be a pretty terrifying finding – SARS-CoV-2 , the virus that causes COVID-19 , is viable even after sitting on surfaces such as glass and bank notes for 28 days .
With much of the attention turning to indoor ventilation of aerosolised particles , as well as droplets from coughing , sneezing and talking , this research provides a strong reminder that we also need to be keeping a close eye on what we 're touching .
But the paper itself , although robust , needs to be put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bleaching the heck out of their house .
So , we 're here to help .
The researchers took a strain of SARS-CoV-2 and suspended it into a solution made to mimic human mucus .
The final concentration of virus in the fake mucus was 4.97 × 107/mL , which the researchers approximated is around the amount of virus present in the mucus of a COVID-19 patient with a high viral load .
`` While the titre of virus utilised in this study is high it represents a plausible amount of virus that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' the team from the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ( CSIRO ) writes in their paper .
Then , the team let the mucus dry on stainless steel , glass , vinyl , cotton , polymer and paper banknotes at three different temperatures 20°C , 30°C , and 40°C ( 68 to 104°F ) , without any exposure to light .
They sampled the dried mucus at one hour and 1 , 3 , 7 , 14 , 21 , and 28 days after the inoculation .
The team found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detected for up to 28 days on most surfaces at 20°C – the only exception being cotton , which was under the limit of detection after seven days .
`` At 20°C , which is about room temperature , we found that the virus was extremely robust , surviving for 28 days on smooth surfaces such as glass found on mobile phone screens and plastic banknotes , '' said one of the CSIRO researchers , Debbie Eagles .
`` For context , similar experiments for Influenza A have found that it survived on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just how resilient SARS-CoV-2 is . ''
At higher temperatures however , the virus did not survive very long .
The time it took for the virus to be under the limit of detection for glass , vinyl , stainless steel , polymer and paper notes was between 3 and 21 days at 30°C and 40°C .
Now , here 's where we get into the nitty gritty .
As mentioned earlier , the researchers kept all the samples in the dark to try and limit the impact of ultraviolet light – meaning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ real-life situations with different conditions .
We also still do n't know how much of a viable virus is needed to get a person sick .
The researchers were analysing the amount of virus in tenfold reductions ; the amount of virus able to infect a tissue culture 28 days later was significantly reduced compared to the initial sample , and we just do n't know that the amount of virus on these surfaces days later would be enough to cause COVID-19 in someone .
`` While the precise role of surface transmission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the amount of virus required for infection is yet to be determined , establishing how long this virus remains viable on surfaces is critical for developing risk mitigation strategies in high contact areas , '' said Eagles .
It 's also important to note that places with higher temperatures have n't experienced a lower spread of COVID-19 , and with India soon expected to surpass the US in case numbers , higher temperatures certainly are n't a pandemic get-out-of-jail-free card .
Cardiff University upper airways researcher Ron Eccles told the BBC that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 28 days is causing `` unnecessary fear in the public '' , and not using real mucus was a flaw with the study design , since real mucus contains enzymes that would break down the virus .
`` In my opinion infectious viruses will only persist for hours in mucus on surfaces rather than days . ''
Although this study is an important reminder to wash our hands and to stay aware of the situation around us , it ( like most studies ) should n't change how regular people keep themselves safe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the main route of transmission is when someone coughs , breathes or talks to another person ( especially without wearing a mask ) , and although the virus can spread through people touching infected surfaces and then touching their face , the virus can be easily wiped away with regular use of 70 percent alcohol disinfectant .
Wearing a mask , staying away from large gatherings , regular handwashing and cleaning surfaces are still the best ways to protect yourself .
The research has been published in Virology Journal .

A research group in Australia has just published what appears to be a pretty terrifying finding – SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is viable even after sitting on surfaces such as glass and bank notes for 28 days.
With much of the attention turning to indoor ventilation of aerosolised particles, as well as droplets from coughing, sneezing and talking, this research provides a strong reminder that we also need to be keeping a close eye on what we're touching.
But the paper itself, although robust, needs to be put into context before anyone panics and starts bleaching the heck out of their house. So, we're here to help.
The researchers took a strain of SARS-CoV-2 and suspended it into a solution made to mimic human mucus. The final concentration of virus in the fake mucus was 4.97 × 107/mL, which the researchers approximated is around the amount of virus present in the mucus of a COVID-19 patient with a high viral load.
"While the titre of virus utilised in this study is high it represents a plausible amount of virus that may be deposited on a surface," the team from the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) writes in their paper.
Then, the team let the mucus dry on stainless steel, glass, vinyl, cotton, polymer and paper banknotes at three different temperatures 20°C, 30°C, and 40°C (68 to 104°F), without any exposure to light.
They sampled the dried mucus at one hour and 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after the inoculation.
The team found that the virus remained and could be detected for up to 28 days on most surfaces at 20°C – the only exception being cotton, which was under the limit of detection after seven days.
"At 20°C, which is about room temperature, we found that the virus was extremely robust, surviving for 28 days on smooth surfaces such as glass found on mobile phone screens and plastic banknotes," said one of the CSIRO researchers, Debbie Eagles.
"For context, similar experiments for Influenza A have found that it survived on surfaces for 17 days, which highlights just how resilient SARS-CoV-2 is."
At higher temperatures however, the virus did not survive very long. The time it took for the virus to be under the limit of detection for glass, vinyl, stainless steel, polymer and paper notes was between 3 and 21 days at 30°C and 40°C.
Now, here's where we get into the nitty gritty. As mentioned earlier, the researchers kept all the samples in the dark to try and limit the impact of ultraviolet light – meaning these findings may not hold true in real-life situations with different conditions.
We also still don't know how much of a viable virus is needed to get a person sick. The researchers were analysing the amount of virus in tenfold reductions; the amount of virus able to infect a tissue culture 28 days later was significantly reduced compared to the initial sample, and we just don't know that the amount of virus on these surfaces days later would be enough to cause COVID-19 in someone.
"While the precise role of surface transmission, the degree of surface contact and the amount of virus required for infection is yet to be determined, establishing how long this virus remains viable on surfaces is critical for developing risk mitigation strategies in high contact areas," said Eagles.
It's also important to note that places with higher temperatures haven't experienced a lower spread of COVID-19, and with India soon expected to surpass the US in case numbers, higher temperatures certainly aren't a pandemic get-out-of-jail-free card.
Cardiff University upper airways researcher Ron Eccles told the BBC that the conclusion that the virus could survive for 28 days is causing "unnecessary fear in the public", and not using real mucus was a flaw with the study design, since real mucus contains enzymes that would break down the virus.
"In my opinion infectious viruses will only persist for hours in mucus on surfaces rather than days."
Although this study is an important reminder to wash our hands and to stay aware of the situation around us, it (like most studies) shouldn't change how regular people keep themselves safe during the pandemic.
We know that the main route of transmission is when someone coughs, breathes or talks to another person (especially without wearing a mask), and although the virus can spread through people touching infected surfaces and then touching their face, the virus can be easily wiped away with regular use of 70 percent alcohol disinfectant.
Wearing a mask, staying away from large gatherings, regular handwashing and cleaning surfaces are still the best ways to protect yourself.
The research has been published in Virology Journal.
This article was originally published by ScienceAlert. Read the original article here.


livescience--2020-10-14--Kids can watch colorful crystals grow with this NatGeo kit, on sale for Prime Day

For the earth-loving child ( or dirt-digger ) in your life , this crystal-growing set might be just the thing to keep them learning and having fun .
National Geographic 's Mega Crystal Growing Lab lets kids prepare and grow six vibrantly colored crystals in just three to four days .
The kit includes a light-up display stand , so your child can keep their science `` experiment '' out on exhibit in the living room or their bedroom .
It also includes a learning guide and four genuine crystals for them to keep and learn about .
And just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amazing deal on the kit , saving you $ 6.00 .
The kit comes with materials and instructions to grow six colorful crystals : red , green , blue , purple yellow and glow-in-the-dark .
Plus , you can grow your crystals in one of two silicone growing chambers .
Once fully grown , your crystals can take their spot in a light-up display chamber .
You can even start your own rock collection with the four real gemstone specimens included in the package .
Plus , the included STEM guide will explain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Geographic is one of the most trusted brands in science kits for kids , and for `` Prime Day '' Amazon has several other deals on their fun and engaging products .
This kit will either be a great starter rock collection or a great addition to what your child has already gathered , as it includes both rough and polished samples of Aventurine and rose quartz as well as stunning snowflake obsidian , Desert Rose , red jasper , blue quartz , pumice and meteorite specimens .
It also includes real fossils @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ammonites , clams , brachiopods and more .
Plus , the kit contains one broken geode and two unbroken geode specimens for your enthusiastic child to crack open themselves .
This is not your ordinary marble run !
The NatGeo version glows .
With five sturdy bases , 15 action pieces , and 45 clear smooth-run track pieces , this kit has countless imaginative configurations for your child to explore .
Six different colors of glow-in-the-dark glass marbles are included .
To recharge the marbles , your child can rely on the included @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your child can learn : The learning guide explains the physics of motion and aerodynamics , as well as direction for science experiments to conduct with your marble run .
View Deal If the marble run is n't enough action for your child , how about a Ballista ( an enormous crossbow ) , a Bombard ( an early form of the cannon ) and a mighty Catapult ?
If that sounds good , this kit showcasing Leonardo da Vinci 's inventions is perfect for your child .
In addition to building the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; yes , they are fully functional and the kit includes 15 projectiles plus 18 paper targets for practice .
What a great way to learn about machines and a little history.View Deal

We could be 16 years into a methane-fueled 'termination' event significant enough to end an ice age
Methane emissions from tropical wetlands have been soaring since 2006 and accelerating at the same breakneck speed as when Earth's climate has flipped from a glacial to an interglacial period.


livescience--2020-10-13--Glowing brains, fish embryos and a snail tongue taste success in microscopy photo contest

A vibrant , blue-and-orange hued photo highlighting the tiny vessels in and around the brain of a young zebrafish won first place in the photography contest , an annual competition showcasing photos of our world at the microscopic level , Nikon representatives announced today ( Oct. 13 ) .
In this jaw-dropping image , lymphatic vessels in the fish 's brain glow orange , as do branching tendrils extending throughout its body in the complex network of the , which rids the body of waste .
Offsetting the delicate orange threads are luminous blue patterns — the fish 's scales @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Weinstein and Bakary Samasa , researchers at the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) captured the prizewinning photo using confocal microscopy , an optical imaging technique .
Castranova stitched together more than 350 images to achieve the final result , which contest representatives labeled `` stunning '' in a statement .
In zebrafish , the lymphatic vessels and bones express fluorescent proteins in different parts of the spectrum .
Researchers then colorize illuminated regions in the images to differentiate between the different proteins , Castranova told Live Science .
To image the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anesthetized the animal and placed it in a pliable gel called agarose to hold the fish still for the photos , covering the zebrafish with water so that it could breathe .
`` We can image them , and then peel them out of the agarose and revive them , '' Castranova said .
The researchers photographed this particular zebrafish during several stages of its growth , creating a time series to show where the lymphatic vessels in the brain come from and how they develop .
Lymphatic vessels were first discovered in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may help the brain flush out toxins , according to the NIH .
This zebrafish image is part of an investigation demonstrating for the first time that fish also have these vessels in their brains , he explained .
Second place went to a composite image showing embryo development in a clownfish ( Amphiprion percula ) , in a sequence taken over four days by nature photographer Daniel Knop .
The first egg on the far left was freshly fertilized , while the egg at the end of the line on the right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to the contest statement .
The third-place winner , a highly colorful close-up of a freshwater snail 's tongue , was captured by Igor Siwanowicz , a biochemist and neurobiologist at the Max Planck Institute in Munich , Germany .
For 46 years , Nikon 's contest has celebrated photographers and scientists who use microscopes and camera lenses to capture minuscule marvels .
Standout images in previous years included ; clusters of shimmering , sequin-like scales around ; and a glowering , to name just a few .
This year , winners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ representing researchers and microscopy artists from 90 countries around the world .
Judges evaluated submissions based on their artistic vision , originality , technical expertise and scientific context , according to the statement .
`` First of all , the image has to be striking — it has to be aesthetically interesting or pleasing , '' said contest judge Dylan Burnette , an assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville , Tennessee .
`` An interesting scientific angle is also required @ @ @ @ @ @ @ top 20 , '' Burnette told Live Science .
The clarity and beauty of Castranova 's image — as well as its scientific significance — instantly caught the judges ' attention , Burnette said .
`` It was one of the only images that every one of the judges agreed on , '' he said .
`` Its first-place position was pretty clear almost immediately . ''
You can see all the prizewinning photos and honorable mentions on the .

First prize went to a dorsal view of bones and scales (blue) and lymphatic vessels (orange) in a juvenile zebrafish.
A vibrant, blue-and-orange hued photo highlighting the tiny vessels in and around the brain of a young zebrafish won first place in the Nikon Small World photography contest, an annual competition showcasing photos of our world at the microscopic level, Nikon representatives announced today (Oct. 13).
In this jaw-dropping image, lymphatic vessels in the fish's brain glow orange, as do branching tendrils extending throughout its body in the complex network of the lymphatic system , which rids the body of waste. Offsetting the delicate orange threads are luminous blue patterns — the fish's scales and bones.
Daniel Castranova, Brant Weinstein and Bakary Samasa, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) captured the prizewinning photo using confocal microscopy, an optical imaging technique. Castranova stitched together more than 350 images to achieve the final result, which contest representatives labeled "stunning" in a statement.
Related: Magnificent microphotography: 50 tiny wonders
In zebrafish, the lymphatic vessels and bones express fluorescent proteins in different parts of the spectrum. Researchers then colorize illuminated regions in the images to differentiate between the different proteins, Castranova told Live Science.
To image the living zebrafish, Castranova and his colleagues anesthetized the animal and placed it in a pliable gel called agarose to hold the fish still for the photos, covering the zebrafish with water so that it could breathe.
"We can image them, and then peel them out of the agarose and revive them," Castranova said. The researchers photographed this particular zebrafish during several stages of its growth, creating a time series to show where the lymphatic vessels in the brain come from and how they develop.
Second prize was awarded to the photographer who captured this image revealing the embryonic development of a clownfish (Amphiprion percula) on days one, three (morning and evening), five, and nine. (Image credit: Photo by Daniel Knop/Courtesy of Nikon Small World)
Lymphatic vessels were first discovered in mammal brains in 2015, and they may help the brain flush out toxins, according to the NIH . This zebrafish image is part of an investigation demonstrating for the first time that fish also have these vessels in their brains, he explained.
Second place went to a composite image showing embryo development in a clownfish (Amphiprion percula), in a sequence taken over four days by nature photographer Daniel Knop. The first egg on the far left was freshly fertilized, while the egg at the end of the line on the right was just hours away from hatching, according to the contest statement. The third-place winner, a highly colorful close-up of a freshwater snail's tongue, was captured by Igor Siwanowicz, a biochemist and neurobiologist at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany.
Minuscule marvels
For 46 years, Nikon's contest has celebrated photographers and scientists who use microscopes and camera lenses to capture minuscule marvels. Standout images in previous years included a rainbow-colored turtle embryo ; clusters of shimmering, sequin-like scales around a beetle's eye ; and a glowering embryonic fish face , to name just a few.
This year, winners were selected from over 2,000 entries, representing researchers and microscopy artists from 90 countries around the world. Judges evaluated submissions based on their artistic vision, originality, technical expertise and scientific context, according to the statement.
The tongue of a freshwater snail, at a magnification of 40X. (Image credit: Photo by Igor Siwanowicz/Courtesy of Nikon Small World)
"First of all, the image has to be striking — it has to be aesthetically interesting or pleasing," said contest judge Dylan Burnette, an assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.
"An interesting scientific angle is also required to push an image up to the top 20," Burnette told Live Science. The clarity and beauty of Castranova's image — as well as its scientific significance — instantly caught the judges' attention, Burnette said.
"It was one of the only images that every one of the judges agreed on," he said. "Its first-place position was pretty clear almost immediately."
You can see all the prizewinning photos and honorable mentions on the Nikon Small World contest website .
Originally published on Live Science.


livescience--2020-10-13--Save 30% on Osmo Little Genius kits and educational games

Osmo is an award-winning educational games system for iPad and Amazon Fire tablets and it 's discounted for Prime Day .
It turns screen time into active , hands-on time with engaging and educational games that have a physical element .
Prime subscribers can get up to 30 % off on Osmo bundles and add-ons .
Osmo Little Genius Starter Kit | Save $ 36.00 | Now $ 83.29 at Amazon Geared for ages 3 to 5 , this Osmo kit includes everything needed to turn a compatible iPad or Fire table ( not included ) into an Osmo learning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Osmo base and a reflector pad as well as pieces used in six pre-reading and early math games .
These pieces include 19 cardboard costume pieces , 38 silicone sticks and rings for shape-building , and storage for these pieces .
Also included are six game apps : Shape Builder , Counting Town , ABCs , Costume Party , Stories and Squiggle Magic , which allows kids to build scenes with the game pieces and watch them move on-screen .
It costs $ 83.99 for Prime Day , a saving of $ 36 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If you want to add more games , or already have an Osmo Base , then there are deals on add-on kits .
Add on this Genius Numbers kit , geared for ages 6 to 10 , to get your child revved up about math .
This kit comes with number tiles , dot tiles and the game app Numbers .
It 's a fun and engaging way of teaching counting , subtraction , addition and multiplication .
View Deal Genius Words is also on sale for $ 20.99 .
This add-on comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the game app Words .
It is designed to teach spelling and vocabulary to kids between the ages of 6 and 10 .
View Deal The Sticks and Rings kit for ages 3 to 5 is also included in the Prime special .
This bundle comes with a set of silicone sticks and rings for shape-making and letter-building .
It also comes with two game apps , ABCs and Squiggle Magic .
ABCs teaches letters , phonics and words ; Squiggle Magic allows children to build scenes and characters that come to life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a savings of 30 % .
View Deal Finally , the Coding Family Bundle is on sale for $ 55.99 , a saving of $ 24 .
This bundle , designed for ages 5 and up , teaches coding with hands-on coding blocks and three games : Coding Awbie , Coding Jam and Coding Duo .
Coding Awbie allows kids to learn coding by controlling a cartoon character named Awbie .
Coding Jam lets kids compose their own music , while Coding Duo is a puzzle-solving and strategy game .
View Deal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Oct. 13 and 14 .


livescience--2020-10-13--The Best Science Toys for Kids

The Best Science Toys for Kids

Check out these fun gifts for the curious kids in your life .
From STEM toys that promote the inner engineer to hands-on kits to help unlock your child 's creativity , here are some of Live Science 's favorite gift ideas for kids .
Kids love to figure out what 's things look like inside and up-close .
Here 's the perfect way to keep them engaged and learning : This National Geographic microscope has two viewing options — Kids can use the lower LED lights to view biological specimens on slides or they can switch over to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intricate detail .
And it comes with more than 50 accessories , including already prepared slides and a learning guide.View Deal This digital microscope is so easy to use that you can get it set up and connected to a mobile device ( Android or iOS ) and leave your child to explore the world on their own .
From looking at the inside of their mouth to the teensy printing on a Pokemon card to a blade of grass , your child can analyze a zoomed-in version of their world , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ innovative microscope wirelessly streams live footage to over 33 feet away while magnifying objects with a 50x to 1000x magnification zoom.View Deal Encourage your kids to learn about solar energy with three DIY solar building kits : They will create a solar fan , a solar street light and a rotary windmill with easy to follow step-by-step instructions .
Along the way , your child will learn basic principles of simple circuit , electricity and energy conversion .
This toy is rated for kids ages 8 to 13.View Deal Just about every kid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And with this rocket science lab kit , kids ages 8 to 14 can also learn : The kit includes 18 fun and practical experiments in science technology engineering and math .
The rocket science lab guide is chock-full of pictures and information for hours of entertainment .
This might be the perfect gift to help your child tiptoe into the world of coding .
This real-life robot named Cozmo has a beginner-friendly interface that allows kids ( and adults ) to creatively program their robot .
Then , they can challenge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mode to see things from his perspective using a free Cozmo app compatible with iOS and Android.View Deal The Genius Starter Kit for iPad includes everything your kids need to experience hands-on learning and digital fun in five different ways and subject areas .
The kit includes the Osmo base as well as 5 game apps ( plus the materials needed to play these games ) : Shapes & placing in designs ( called Tangram ) ; problem-solving/early physics ( Newton ) , creative drawing skills ( Masterpiece ) , counting with numbers/dice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and vocabulary ( Words ) .View Deal This kit is great for a kids party or just a rainy weekend : Hide these 12 dinosaur eggs and let your kids pretend to be paleontologists .
Once they find their egg , they can carefully `` dig '' the dinosaur out to reveal all the fun paleo-beasts , from a T. rex to a Dilophosaurus , an Ankylosaurus and much more .
Then , kids can match their dinosaur with the appropriate card that describes the history and features of their dino .
View @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sight of blood , you can surely handle these fuzzy blood cells .
And perhaps , you ’ ll grow to adore your plasma , platelets and all the glorious cells pulsing through your veins .
This plushy set includes : a red blood cell , white blood cell , plasma , platelet and antibody.View Deal It 's time to solve brainteasers about Sassy , Ginger and Mr. Mittens with the Cat Crimes , Who 's to Blame Logic Game .
Players use critical reasoning and logical deduction skills as they solve the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ friends .
The kids will race to figure out the final order and placement of the cats around the dinner table .
( Recommended ages : 8+ ) View Deal Get your kid 's green thumb started by having them grow a spectacular garden with chia and wheat grass seeds using the Creativity for Kids Grow ' n Glow Terrarium - Science Kit for Kids .
Your little gardener can decorate , plant and water these plants as they learn about the plant life cycle in less than a week .
( Recommended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a child or friend who 's into spaceships ... and shouting ?
If so , this might be the perfect gift .
For ages 10 and up , this card game is all about teamwork : In order to survive , you and your team must coordinate to escape a black hole while dealing with one complication after another .
Your only hope ?
Repair your spaceship before it 's too late .
Let 's get to work !
View Deal Kids enjoy all the ... gross things in life .
So why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while learning science ?
Recommended for kids 8 and up , with adult supervision , this kit includes everything you need to create a stinky intestine , slimy snot and fake blood .
It also helps kids grow friendly molds and bacteria .
View Deal Not everything is what it seems .
The dull , jagged exteriors of geodes belies an often magical and colorful world inside .
This kit comes with 10 geodes ( from the size of a tennis ball to that of a ping pong ball ) , googles , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and how they form , and two display stands .
View Deal According to the manufacturer ECHEERS , this remote-controlled robot uses artificial intelligence so that it can interpret your child 's voice commands on the fly .
It can also dance and make cute expressions .
A free app lets kids program the robot 's dance moves and singing ( it is equipped with a Bluetooth speaker ) or use already programmed commands .
View Deal Kids ( recommended for ages 8 and up ) can learn to use Blockly coding to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using eight magical color cards .
And there 's a magical horn that can be programmed to shine different colors .
Kids can do the programming through the Jimu app , which is compatible with Andriod and iOS devices .
View Deal

Skybasic Wireless Digital Microscope
This digital microscope is so easy to use that you can get it set up and connected to a mobile device (Android or iOS) and leave your child to explore the world on their own. From looking at the inside of their mouth to the teensy printing on a Pokemon card to a blade of grass, your child can analyze a zoomed-in version of their world, and even take photos and video! This innovative microscope wirelessly streams live footage to over 33 feet away while magnifying objects with a 50x to 1000x magnification zoom.


livescience--2020-10-13--Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

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90-year-old woman in the UK receives first dose of Pfizer vaccine, FDA review confirms vaccine is safe and effective A 90-year-old woman (who will turn 91 next week) became the first in the world to be given Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials, according to the BBC. Margaret Keenan, who is originally from Northern Ireland, was given the vaccine at the University Hospital in Coventry, England. She received the first of 800,000 doses expected to be administered in the U.K. in the coming weeks, according to the BBC. "I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against Covid-19," Keenan said, according to the BBC."It's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year." "My advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it. If I can have it at 90, then you can have it too," she added. Up to four million doses of Pfizer's vaccine is expected to be given to people in the U.K. by the end of the month. Meanwhile, a 53-page Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review published Tuesday (Dec. 8) confirmed that Pfizer's vaccine is safe and effective, according to The Washington Post.
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine starts to work just 10 days after 1st dose Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine starts to protect people from the novel coronavirus just 10 days after the first dose, according to new documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The documents were released on Tuesday (Dec. 8), two days before a meeting of the FDA's vaccine advisory panel, which will vote on whether to recommend authorization of the vaccine in the U.S, Live Science reported . The FDA analyzed data from Pfizer's phase 3 clinical trial, which included some 44,000 people in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Turkey, about half of whom received the vaccine while the other half received a placebo. Both groups received two shots, 21 days apart. About 10 days after the first dose, there was a noticeable drop-off in new COVID-19 cases in the vaccine group compared with the placebo group, indicating that even one dose provides some protection, the report said. However, scientists don't know how long the protection from a single dose will last, so it will still be important for people to receive two shots, according to The New York Times . Overall, the vaccine was 52% effective after the first dose and 95% effective after the second dose, the report said.
People with significant allergies should avoid Pfizer vaccine, UK warns The U.K.'s Regulatory Agency is advising people with a history of "significant" allergic reactions to avoid Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, after two National Health Service members developed severe allergic reactions to it on Tuesday (Dec. 8), Live Science reported. "As is common with new vaccines the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) have advised on a precautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccination after two people with a history of significant allergic reactions responded adversely yesterday," Stephen Powis, the national medical director for England's National Health Service said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec. 9). Both workers have a history of severe allergies and carry adrenaline auto injectors (such as EpiPens) around with them, according to The Guardian. Shortly after receiving the vaccine, both NHS workers developed anaphylaxis-like symptoms, or severe allergic reactions, but have recovered after receiving treatment. The MHRA will investigate further and Pfizer and BioNTech will support their investigation, according to Reuters. "Allergic reaction occurs with quite a number of vaccines, and perhaps even more frequently with drugs. So it is not unexpected," Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said in remarks to journalists published by Britain's Science Media Center. “What would be wise, as the MHRA have already advised, would be for anyone who has known severe allergic reaction such that they need to carry an EpiPen, to delay having a vaccination until the reason for the allergic reaction has been clarified," he said. For the general population this does not mean that they would need to be anxious about receiving the vaccination, he added. "One has to remember that even things like marmite [a quintessential British food spread] can cause unexpected severe allergic reactions.”
Canada approves Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine Canada has authorized Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine, with the first doses expected to be administered there as early as next week. Health Canada, the country's health regulatory agency, said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec. 9) that it had determined that the vaccine "meets the Department's stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements for use in Canada," according to CTV News . "We expect vaccines to arrive maybe as early as Monday [Dec. 14]. It takes time to prepare the vaccine," said Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the top military general leading the vaccine rollout for the Public Health Agency of Canada, according to CTV News. The first doses could be administered by the middle of next week, he said. Canada is the third country in the world to authorize the Pfizer vaccine, following the United Kingdom and Bahrain. The country should receive up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of December, and has purchased 20 million doses total, with the option to purchase more, CTV News reported.
Daily COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. reaches record-high, surpassed 9/11 On Wednesday (Dec. 9), the U.S. recorded 3,124 new COVID-19 deaths, the highest daily death toll to date, according to CNN . In comparison, 2,977 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. has now recorded 280,488 deaths related to the virus, according to The COVID Tracking Project . A forecast from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that the total death toll can increase to between 332,000 and 362,000 by January 2, according to CNN. There are currently 106,671 people hospitalized with the virus in the U.S.; 20,903 of them are currently in the ICU and 7,621 are currently on a ventilator, according to the COVID Tracking Project. On Thursday (Dec. 10), the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is set to meet to discuss an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
FDA panel recommends authorization of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine A panel of experts for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that the agency authorize Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. On Thursday (Dec. 10), the panel voted 17 to 4 to recommend that the vaccine receive emergency use authorization (EUA) for people ages 16 and older, according to The New York Times . The FDA typically follows the advice of its panels, and so today's vote is an important step towards the vaccine's authorization. It is anticipated that the agency will officially authorize the vaccine on Saturday (Dec. 12), the Times reported. Several countries have already authorized Pfizer's vaccine, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Bahrain.
Vaccine approval could come this weekend, as U.S. continues to record high daily death tolls On Thursday (Dec. 10), the U.S. recorded another 2,902 COVID-19 deaths, a day after the country set a record of 3,253 deaths, according to Reuters . “Probably for the next 60 to 90 days, we’re going to have more deaths per day than we had on 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor,” Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday, according to Reuters. "The reality is the vaccine approval this week is not going to really impact that, I think, to any degree for the next 60 days." On Thursday, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee discussed, voted and recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine has already been approved in the U.K. and in Canada, and FDA approval for use in the U.S. could come this weekend.
Australia abandons local COVID-19 vaccine after it caused false-positive HIV tests An Australian COVID-19 vaccine that had shown promising results in early trials is being abandoned after researchers found that the shot caused false-positive results on HIV tests. On Friday (Dec. 11), Australian officials said they had canceled an order for some 51 million doses of the vaccine, which was being developed by The University of Queensland and CSL Ltd., a local biotech company, according to The New York Times . In an early trial with 216 participants, the vaccine appeared to be safe and to produce a robust immune response against COVID-19, according to a statement from CSL . But some volunteers falsely tested positive for HIV, which officials feared would undermine trust in the vaccine, the Times reported. The vaccine contained small fragments of an HIV protein, which helped stabilize the vaccine. Some of the participants developed antibodies against these fragments, and these antibodies triggered false positive results on some HIV tests. It's important to note that there is no way for the vaccine to cause an HIV infection, because it contains harmless fragments of the virus.
ICU nurse in New York becomes first person in the US to receive a coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials New York, the worst-hit state at the start of the pandemic, just became the first to administer a coronavirus vaccine outside of clinical trials, kicking off a long, massive effort to vaccinate the American people, Live Science reported. Around 9 a.m. E.T. on Monday (Dec. 14), the very first dose of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine was given to Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse in Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, according to The New York Times. This comes as the U.S. continues to battle a massive wave of the virus that has more than 109,000 people currently hospitalized, according to The COVID Tracking Project. Since the start of the pandemic, New York has recorded more than 780,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 35,100 deaths, according to The Times. "This vaccine is exciting because I believe this is the weapon that will end the war," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a live broadcast of the first vaccination. "It's the beginning of the last chapter of the book, but now we just have to do it."
FDA analysis confirms Moderna's vaccine is safe and effective, emergency authorization is likely to come Friday A new briefing document from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released on Tuesday (Dec. 15) confirmed that Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, according to NPR . Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective and has "a favorable safety profile," according to the document. A panel of experts is set to meet on Thursday (Dec. 17) to discuss the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine and vote on whether or not the FDA should grant emergency approval to the vaccine. Last week, the same panel voted that the FDA should grant emergency approval to Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine; the authorization came a day late and the first doses were given on Monday (Dec. 15). The FDA will likely approve Moderna's vaccine for emergency use on Friday (Dec. 18), according to The New York Times .
FDA authorizes first over-the-counter COVID-19 test The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the first over-the-counter COVID-19 test, which can be done at home and does not need a prescription. The test, made by the Australia-based company Ellume, provides results in as little as 20 minutes, according to a statement from the FDA . It is a "lateral flow antigen test," meaning it works in a similar way to a home pregnancy test, by running a "liquid sample along a surface with reactive molecules," the FDA said. The test works in conjunction with a smartphone app. Users take a nasal swab and place their sample in an analyzer, which communicates to the smartphone app via Bluetooth. The results are delivered through the app, and also reported to public health authorities (based on a user's zip code) through a secure cloud connection, the company said . Ellume is ramping up production of its test, and expects to produce three million tests in January 2021, and 20 million within the first half of 2021.
A wild mink tested positive for the coronavirus, it may be the first wild animal to have a confirmed case A wild mink in Utah may be the first "free-ranging, native wild animal" confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Live Science reported. The mink was found near a mink farm and likely picked up the infection from the farmed mink. There's no evidence that the virus spread to other minks or wild animals; but if the virus does begin circulating in wild animals, it could pick up mutations that COVID-19 vaccines may not protect well against if it spreads back to humans, according to the report. "If it does [establish a reservoir], then we've got a long-term issue here, where this virus has the potential to be with us for millennia," Sarah Olson, associate director of the health program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told Vox. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has screened other animal species for the virus near mink farms in Utah, Michigan and Wisconsin, but all of them have tested negative so far, according to a statement.
An FDA advisory panel will meet today to vote on whether to recommend Moderna's coronavirus vaccine for emergency approval On Thursday (Dec. 17), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee will meet to determine whether to recommend that Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency approval, according to The New York Times . This panel, composed of independent experts, will vote on whether to recommend the vaccine after hearing from the company, FDA scientists and the public, according to The Times. Last week, the same panel of experts met to discuss Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine and voted to recommend emergency authorization; the authorization came the next day. There have now been more than 16.9 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and more than 307,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins dashboard . There are currently 113,090 people hospitalized across the country with more than 21,900 of them in the ICU and 7,778 on a ventilator, according to The COVID Tracking Project .
California becomes new epicenter of COVID-19 in U.S. California, once praised for its early pandemic response, is now the new U.S. hotspot for COVID-19 infections. The state has reported an alarming surge in cases, breaking previous records for daily cases. On Thursday (Dec. 17), the state reported some 50,000 COVID-19 infections in 24 hours, and nearly 100,000 in 48 hours, according to The Washington Post . That's more than the daily cases reported in many countries, including India, Germany and Britain, the Post reported. The state also set a record for daily deaths on Thursday, with 379 fatalities reported, up from the previous high of 293. Capacity in intensive care units has also dropped dramatically, with hospitals in Southern California reporting zero percent capacity on Thursday. "I want to be very clear: Our hospitals are under siege, and our model shows no end in sight," said Christina Ghaly, director of Los Angeles County's Department of Health Services, the Post reported.
FDA expected to authorize Moderna's vaccine on Friday The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday (Dec. 18). Once authorized, it will be the second coronavirus vaccine to get the green light from the agency in just a week, with Pfizer's vaccine gaining authorization on Dec. 11. Moderna is expected to begin shipping 5.9 million doses of its vaccine on Sunday (Dec. 20), with the first deliveries arriving Monday (Dec. 21), according to The New York Times . Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna's vaccine does not require storage in extremely cold temperatures, and states are hoping to distribute the vaccine to rural hospitals and community health centers, the Times reported.
COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the U.S. There have now been more than 17 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and more than 300,000 deaths, according to The COVID Tracking Project . There are currently 114,237 people hospitalized across the country and 21,900 people in the ICU. California is facing a massive surge in cases; the state reported 41,012 new COVID-19 cases and 300 new deaths on Thursday (Dec. 17), according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard . By comparison, at the start of November, California was reporting a seven-day average of 4,183 cases, compared to an average of 38,774 on Thursday, according to CNN . "We're experiencing an explosive and very deadly surge," Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County Public Health Director said, according to CNN. Intensive care unit beds are rapidly filling up across the state; there are only 1,234 ICU beds left available in California, according to the dashboard. Current closures across California are impacting around 98% of the state's population, according to CNN.
London and southeast England are under an emergency lockdown Following concerns of a new version of the coronavirus that might be more transmissible, London and most of southeast England are now under an emergency lockdown, according to The New York Times . Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the lockdown on Saturday (Dec. 19) citing concerns that the mutated virus — which was detected a couple of weeks ago in southeast England — may be as much as 70% more transmissible than previous versions, according to the Times. The new version of the coronavirus is detected in more than 60% of new infections in London and have also been detected in several other countries, according to the Times. But it's not yet clear if this coronavirus version is any more infectious than the last and thorough analyses will need to be conducted before conclusions are made, scientists cautioned. In South Africa, a similar version of the virus has been found in up to 90% of new cases detected since mid-November, according to The Times . It's common for viruses to mutate, and this particular coronavirus has mutated many times since the start of the pandemic. But experts told The Times that it would take years for the virus to mutate enough such that it would make the current vaccines developed to fight COVID-19 ineffective.
Biden gets Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine President-elect Joe Biden received a dose of Pfizer's new COVID-19 vaccine on Monday (Dec. 21), according to The New York Times . He received the shot on camera at the Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware. "I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about," Biden said.
Antarctica has its 1st COVID-19 outbreak The first COVID-19 cases have been reported in Antarctica , meaning the disease has now spread to every continent in the world. On Tuesday (Dec. 22), Chilean officials reported an outbreak of 36 COVID-19 cases at the Chilean research base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme on the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the BBC . Of these, 26 cases were military personnel and 10 were maintenance workers, the BBC reported. All of these cases have been evacuated from Antarctica to Punta Arenas, Chile, according to The Guardian . Antarctica had been COVID-19 free up until the current outbreak. The continent has no permanent residents, but about 1,000 people, including scientists and other workers, stayed there this past winter, The Guardian reported.
Live updates will continue in 2021!


livescience--2020-10-14--Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates


livescience--2020-10-14--Do we live in a simulation? Chances are about 50–50.

It is not often that a comedian gives an astrophysicist goose bumps when discussing the laws of physics .
But comic Chuck Nice managed to do just that in a recent episode of the podcast StarTalk .
The show ’ s host Neil deGrasse Tyson had just explained the simulation argument—the idea that we could be virtual beings living in a computer simulation .
If so , the simulation would most likely create perceptions of reality on demand rather than simulate all of reality all the time—much like a video game optimized to render only the parts of a scene @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s why we can ’ t travel faster than the speed of light , because if we could , we ’ d be able to get to another galaxy , ” said Nice , the show ’ s co-host , prompting Tyson to gleefully interrupt .
“ Before they can program it , ” the astrophysicist said , delighting at the thought .
“ So the programmer put in that limit.
” Such conversations may seem flippant .
But ever since Nick Bostrom of the University of Oxford wrote a seminal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , philosophers , physicists , technologists and , yes , comedians have been grappling with the idea of our reality being a simulacrum .
Some have tried to identify ways in which we can discern if we are simulated beings .
Others have attempted to calculate the chance of us being virtual entities .
Now a new analysis shows that the odds that we are living in base reality—meaning an existence that is not simulated—are pretty much even .
But the study also demonstrates that if humans were to ever develop the ability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would overwhelmingly tilt in favor of us , too , being virtual denizens inside someone else ’ s computer .
( A caveat to that conclusion is that there is little agreement about what the term “ consciousness ” means , let alone how one might go about simulating it . )
In 2003 Bostrom imagined a technologically adept civilization that possesses immense computing power and needs a fraction of that power to simulate new realities with conscious beings in them .
Given this scenario , his simulation argument showed that at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be true : First , humans almost always go extinct before reaching the simulation-savvy stage .
Second , even if humans make it to that stage , they are unlikely to be interested in simulating their own ancestral past .
And third , the probability that we are living in a simulation is close to one .
Before Bostrom , the movie The Matrix had already done its part to popularize the notion of simulated realities .
And the idea has deep roots in Western and Eastern philosophical traditions , from Plato ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s butterfly dream .
More recently , Elon Musk gave further fuel to the concept that our reality is a simulation : “ The odds that we are in base reality is one in billions , ” he said at a 2016 conference .
“ Musk is right if you assume [ propositions ] one and two of the trilemma are false , ” says astronomer David Kipping of Columbia University .
“ How can you assume that ?
” To get a better handle on Bostrom ’ s simulation argument , Kipping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This type of analysis uses Bayes ’ s theorem , named after Thomas Bayes , an 18th-century English statistician and minister .
Bayesian analysis allows one to calculate the odds of something happening ( called the “ posterior ” probability ) by first making assumptions about the thing being analyzed ( assigning it a “ prior ” probability ) .
Kipping began by turning the trilemma into a dilemma .
He collapsed propositions one and two into a single statement , because in both cases , the final outcome is that there are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pits a physical hypothesis ( there are no simulations ) against the simulation hypothesis ( there is a base reality—and there are simulations , too ) .
“ You just assign a prior probability to each of these models , ” Kipping says .
“ We just assume the principle of indifference , which is the default assumption when you don ’ t have any data or leanings either way.
” So each hypothesis gets a prior probability of one half , much as if one were to flip a coin to decide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the analysis required thinking about “ parous ” realities—those that can generate other realities—and “ nulliparous ” realities—those that can not simulate offspring realities .
If the physical hypothesis was true , then the probability that we were living in a nulliparous universe would be easy to calculate : it would be 100 percent .
Kipping then showed that even in the simulation hypothesis , most of the simulated realities would be nulliparous .
That is because as simulations spawn more simulations , the computing resources available to each subsequent generation dwindles to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ realities will be those that do not have the computing power necessary to simulate offspring realities that are capable of hosting conscious beings .
Plug all these into a Bayesian formula , and out comes the answer : the posterior probability that we are living in base reality is almost the same as the posterior probability that we are a simulation—with the odds tilting in favor of base reality by just a smidgen .
These probabilities would change dramatically if humans created a simulation with conscious beings inside it , because such an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ previously assigned to the physical hypothesis .
“ You can just exclude that [ hypothesis ] right off the bat .
Then you are only left with the simulation hypothesis , ” Kipping says .
“ The day we invent that technology , it flips the odds from a little bit better than 50–50 that we are real to almost certainly we are not real , according to these calculations .
It ’ d be a very strange celebration of our genius that day.
” The upshot of Kipping ’ s analysis is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is wrong about the one-in-billions odds that he ascribes to us living in base reality .
Bostrom agrees with the result—with some caveats .
“ This does not conflict with the simulation argument , which only asserts something about the disjunction , ” the idea that one of the three propositions of the trilemma is true , he says .
But Bostrom takes issue with Kipping ’ s choice to assign equal prior probabilities to the physical and simulation hypothesis at the start of the analysis .
“ The invocation of the principle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he says .
“ One could equally well invoke it over my original three alternatives , which would then give them one-third chance each .
Or one could carve up the possibility space in some other manner and get any result one wishes.
” Such quibbles are valid because there is no evidence to back one claim over the others .
That situation would change if we can find evidence of a simulation .
So could you detect a glitch in the Matrix ?
Houman Owhadi , an expert on computational mathematics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has thought about the question .
“ If the simulation has infinite computing power , there is no way you ’ re going to see that you ’ re living in a virtual reality , because it could compute whatever you want to the degree of realism you want , ” he says .
“ If this thing can be detected , you have to start from the principle that [ it has ] limited computational resources.
” Think again of video games , many of which rely on clever programming to minimize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world .
For Owhadi , the most promising way to look for potential paradoxes created by such computing shortcuts is through quantum physics experiments .
Quantum systems can exist in a superposition of states , and this superposition is described by a mathematical abstraction called the wave function .
In standard quantum mechanics , the act of observation causes this wave function to randomly collapse to one of many possible states .
Physicists are divided over whether the process of collapse is something real or just reflects a change in our knowledge about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just a pure simulation , there is no collapse , ” Owhadi says .
“ Everything is decided when you look at it .
The rest is just simulation , like when you ’ re playing these video games.
” To this end , Owhadi and his colleagues have worked on five conceptual variations of the double-slit experiment , each designed to trip up a simulation .
But he acknowledges that it is impossible to know , at this stage , if such experiments could work .
“ Those five experiments are just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Davoudi , a physicist at the University of Maryland , College Park , has also entertained the idea that a simulation with finite computing resources could reveal itself .
Her work focuses on strong interactions , or the strong nuclear force—one of nature ’ s four fundamental forces .
The equations describing strong interactions , which hold together quarks to form protons and neutrons , are so complex that they can not be solved analytically .
To understand strong interactions , physicists are forced to do numerical simulations .
And unlike any putative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must rely on shortcuts to make those simulations computationally viable—usually by considering spacetime to be discrete rather than continuous .
The most advanced result researchers have managed to coax from this approach so far is the simulation of a single nucleus of helium that is composed of two protons and two neutrons .
Such quibbles are valid because there is no evidence to back one claim over the others .
That situation would change if we can find evidence of a simulation .
So could you detect a glitch in the Matrix ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ mathematics at the California Institute of Technology , has thought about the question .
“ If the simulation has infinite computing power , there is no way you ’ re going to see that you ’ re living in a virtual reality , because it could compute whatever you want to the degree of realism you want , ” he says .
“ If this thing can be detected , you have to start from the principle that [ it has ] limited computational resources.
” Think again of video games , many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minimize the computation required to construct a virtual world .
For Owhadi , the most promising way to look for potential paradoxes created by such computing shortcuts is through quantum physics experiments .
Quantum systems can exist in a superposition of states , and this superposition is described by a mathematical abstraction called the wave function .
In standard quantum mechanics , the act of observation causes this wave function to randomly collapse to one of many possible states .
Physicists are divided over whether the process of collapse is something real or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the system .
“ If it is just a pure simulation , there is no collapse , ” Owhadi says .
“ Everything is decided when you look at it .
The rest is just simulation , like when you ’ re playing these video games.
” To this end , Owhadi and his colleagues have worked on five conceptual variations of the double-slit experiment , each designed to trip up a simulation .
But he acknowledges that it is impossible to know , at this stage , if such experiments could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just conjectures , ” Owhadi says .
Zohreh Davoudi , a physicist at the University of Maryland , College Park , has also entertained the idea that a simulation with finite computing resources could reveal itself .
Her work focuses on strong interactions , or the strong nuclear force—one of nature ’ s four fundamental forces .
The equations describing strong interactions , which hold together quarks to form protons and neutrons , are so complex that they can not be solved analytically .
To understand strong interactions , physicists are forced to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ putative supercivilizations possessing limitless computing power , they must rely on shortcuts to make those simulations computationally viable—usually by considering spacetime to be discrete rather than continuous .
The most advanced result researchers have managed to coax from this approach so far is the simulation of a single nucleus of helium that is composed of two protons and two neutrons .
For him , there is a more obvious answer : Occam ’ s razor , which says that in the absence of other evidence , the simplest explanation is more likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elaborate , presuming realities nested upon realities , as well as simulated entities that can never tell that they are inside a simulation .
“ Because it is such an overly complicated , elaborate model in the first place , by Occam ’ s razor , it really should be disfavored , compared to the simple natural explanation , ” Kipping says .
Maybe we are living in base reality after all—The Matrix , Musk and weird quantum physics notwithstanding .
Anil Ananthaswamy is author of The Edge of Physics , The Man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently , Through Two Doors at Once : The Elegant Experiment That Captures the Enigma of Our Quantum Reality .
This article was first published at ScientificAmerican.com .
©ScientificAmerican.com .
All rights reserved .
Follow Scientific American on Twitter @ SciAm and @ SciamBlogs .
Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science , health and technology news .

It is not often that a comedian gives an astrophysicist goose bumps when discussing the laws of physics. But comic Chuck Nice managed to do just that in a recent episode of the podcast StarTalk. The show’s host Neil deGrasse Tyson had just explained the simulation argument—the idea that we could be virtual beings living in a computer simulation. If so, the simulation would most likely create perceptions of reality on demand rather than simulate all of reality all the time—much like a video game optimized to render only the parts of a scene visible to a player. “Maybe that’s why we can’t travel faster than the speed of light, because if we could, we’d be able to get to another galaxy,” said Nice, the show’s co-host, prompting Tyson to gleefully interrupt. “Before they can program it,” the astrophysicist said, delighting at the thought. “So the programmer put in that limit.”
Such conversations may seem flippant. But ever since Nick Bostrom of the University of Oxford wrote a seminal paper about the simulation argument in 2003, philosophers, physicists, technologists and, yes, comedians have been grappling with the idea of our reality being a simulacrum. Some have tried to identify ways in which we can discern if we are simulated beings. Others have attempted to calculate the chance of us being virtual entities. Now a new analysis shows that the odds that we are living in base reality—meaning an existence that is not simulated—are pretty much even. But the study also demonstrates that if humans were to ever develop the ability to simulate conscious beings, the chances would overwhelmingly tilt in favor of us, too, being virtual denizens inside someone else’s computer. (A caveat to that conclusion is that there is little agreement about what the term “consciousness” means, let alone how one might go about simulating it.)
In 2003 Bostrom imagined a technologically adept civilization that possesses immense computing power and needs a fraction of that power to simulate new realities with conscious beings in them. Given this scenario, his simulation argument showed that at least one proposition in the following trilemma must be true: First, humans almost always go extinct before reaching the simulation-savvy stage. Second, even if humans make it to that stage, they are unlikely to be interested in simulating their own ancestral past. And third, the probability that we are living in a simulation is close to one.
Before Bostrom, the movie The Matrix had already done its part to popularize the notion of simulated realities. And the idea has deep roots in Western and Eastern philosophical traditions, from Plato’s cave allegory to Zhuang Zhou’s butterfly dream. More recently, Elon Musk gave further fuel to the concept that our reality is a simulation: “The odds that we are in base reality is one in billions,” he said at a 2016 conference.
“Musk is right if you assume [propositions] one and two of the trilemma are false,” says astronomer David Kipping of Columbia University. “How can you assume that?”
To get a better handle on Bostrom’s simulation argument, Kipping decided to resort to Bayesian reasoning. This type of analysis uses Bayes’s theorem, named after Thomas Bayes, an 18th-century English statistician and minister. Bayesian analysis allows one to calculate the odds of something happening (called the “posterior” probability) by first making assumptions about the thing being analyzed (assigning it a “prior” probability).
Kipping began by turning the trilemma into a dilemma. He collapsed propositions one and two into a single statement, because in both cases, the final outcome is that there are no simulations. Thus, the dilemma pits a physical hypothesis (there are no simulations) against the simulation hypothesis (there is a base reality—and there are simulations, too). “You just assign a prior probability to each of these models,” Kipping says. “We just assume the principle of indifference, which is the default assumption when you don’t have any data or leanings either way.”
So each hypothesis gets a prior probability of one half, much as if one were to flip a coin to decide a wager.
The next stage of the analysis required thinking about “parous” realities—those that can generate other realities—and “nulliparous” realities—those that cannot simulate offspring realities. If the physical hypothesis was true, then the probability that we were living in a nulliparous universe would be easy to calculate: it would be 100 percent. Kipping then showed that even in the simulation hypothesis, most of the simulated realities would be nulliparous. That is because as simulations spawn more simulations, the computing resources available to each subsequent generation dwindles to the point where the vast majority of realities will be those that do not have the computing power necessary to simulate offspring realities that are capable of hosting conscious beings.
Plug all these into a Bayesian formula, and out comes the answer: the posterior probability that we are living in base reality is almost the same as the posterior probability that we are a simulation—with the odds tilting in favor of base reality by just a smidgen.
These probabilities would change dramatically if humans created a simulation with conscious beings inside it, because such an event would change the chances that we previously assigned to the physical hypothesis. “You can just exclude that [hypothesis] right off the bat. Then you are only left with the simulation hypothesis,” Kipping says. “The day we invent that technology, it flips the odds from a little bit better than 50–50 that we are real to almost certainly we are not real, according to these calculations. It’d be a very strange celebration of our genius that day.”
The upshot of Kipping’s analysis is that, given current evidence, Musk is wrong about the one-in-billions odds that he ascribes to us living in base reality. Bostrom agrees with the result—with some caveats. “This does not conflict with the simulation argument, which only asserts something about the disjunction,” the idea that one of the three propositions of the trilemma is true, he says.
But Bostrom takes issue with Kipping’s choice to assign equal prior probabilities to the physical and simulation hypothesis at the start of the analysis. “The invocation of the principle of indifference here is rather shaky,” he says. “One could equally well invoke it over my original three alternatives, which would then give them one-third chance each. Or one could carve up the possibility space in some other manner and get any result one wishes.”
Such quibbles are valid because there is no evidence to back one claim over the others. That situation would change if we can find evidence of a simulation. So could you detect a glitch in the Matrix?
Houman Owhadi, an expert on computational mathematics at the California Institute of Technology, has thought about the question. “If the simulation has infinite computing power, there is no way you’re going to see that you’re living in a virtual reality, because it could compute whatever you want to the degree of realism you want,” he says. “If this thing can be detected, you have to start from the principle that [it has] limited computational resources.” Think again of video games, many of which rely on clever programming to minimize the computation required to construct a virtual world.
For Owhadi, the most promising way to look for potential paradoxes created by such computing shortcuts is through quantum physics experiments. Quantum systems can exist in a superposition of states, and this superposition is described by a mathematical abstraction called the wave function. In standard quantum mechanics, the act of observation causes this wave function to randomly collapse to one of many possible states. Physicists are divided over whether the process of collapse is something real or just reflects a change in our knowledge about the system. “If it is just a pure simulation, there is no collapse,” Owhadi says. “Everything is decided when you look at it. The rest is just simulation, like when you’re playing these video games.”
To this end, Owhadi and his colleagues have worked on five conceptual variations of the double-slit experiment, each designed to trip up a simulation. But he acknowledges that it is impossible to know, at this stage, if such experiments could work. “Those five experiments are just conjectures,” Owhadi says.
Zohreh Davoudi, a physicist at the University of Maryland, College Park, has also entertained the idea that a simulation with finite computing resources could reveal itself. Her work focuses on strong interactions, or the strong nuclear force—one of nature’s four fundamental forces. The equations describing strong interactions, which hold together quarks to form protons and neutrons, are so complex that they cannot be solved analytically. To understand strong interactions, physicists are forced to do numerical simulations. And unlike any putative supercivilizations possessing limitless computing power, they must rely on shortcuts to make those simulations computationally viable—usually by considering spacetime to be discrete rather than continuous. The most advanced result researchers have managed to coax from this approach so far is the simulation of a single nucleus of helium that is composed of two protons and two neutrons.
“Naturally, you start to ask, if you simulated an atomic nucleus today, maybe in 10 years, we could do a larger nucleus; maybe in 20 or 30 years, we could do a molecule,” Davoudi says. “In 50 years, who knows, maybe you can do something the size of a few inches of matter. Maybe in 100 years or so, we can do the [human] brain.”
Davoudi thinks that classical computers will soon hit a wall, however. “In the next maybe 10 to 20 years, we will actually see the limits of our classical simulations of the physical systems,” she says. Thus, she is turning her sights to quantum computation, which relies on superpositions and other quantum effects to make tractable certain computational problems that would be impossible through classical approaches. “If quantum computing actually materializes, in the sense that it’s a large scale, reliable computing option for us, then we’re going to enter a completely different era of simulation,” Davoudi says. “I am starting to think about how to perform my simulations of strong interaction physics and atomic nuclei if I had a quantum computer that was viable.”
All of these factors have led Davoudi to speculate about the simulation hypothesis. If our reality is a simulation, then the simulator is likely also discretizing spacetime to save on computing resources (assuming, of course, that it is using the same mechanisms as our physicists for that simulation). Signatures of such discrete spacetime could potentially be seen in the directions high-energy cosmic rays arrive from: they would have a preferred direction in the sky because of the breaking of so-called rotational symmetry.
Telescopes “haven’t observed any deviation from that rotational invariance yet,” Davoudi says. And even if such an effect were to be seen, it would not constitute unequivocal evidence that we live in a simulation. Base reality itself could have similar properties.
Kipping, despite his own study, worries that further work on the simulation hypothesis is on thin ice. “It’s arguably not testable as to whether we live in a simulation or not,” he says. “If it’s not falsifiable, then how can you claim it’s really science?”
For him, there is a more obvious answer: Occam’s razor, which says that in the absence of other evidence, the simplest explanation is more likely to be correct. The simulation hypothesis is elaborate, presuming realities nested upon realities, as well as simulated entities that can never tell that they are inside a simulation. “Because it is such an overly complicated, elaborate model in the first place, by Occam’s razor, it really should be disfavored, compared to the simple natural explanation,” Kipping says.
Maybe we are living in base reality after all — The Matrix, Musk and weird quantum physics notwithstanding.
Anil Ananthaswamy is author of The Edge of Physics, The Man Who Wasn't There and, most recently, Through Two Doors at Once: The Elegant Experiment That Captures the Enigma of Our Quantum Reality.
This article was first published at ScientificAmerican.com. ©ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
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livescience--2020-10-14--Scientists call for serious study of 'unidentified aerial phenomena'

The U.S. Navy recently admitted that , indeed , by jet pilots over the years are genuine head-scratchers .
There are eyewitness accounts not only from pilots but from radar operators and technicians , too .
In August , the Navy established an to investigate the nature and origin of these odd sightings and determine if they could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security .
The recently observed UAPs purportedly have accelerations that range from almost 100 Gs to thousands of Gs — far higher than a human pilot could survive .
There 's no air disturbance visible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
These and other oddities have captured the attention of `` I told you so , they 're here '' believers .
But there 's also a rising call for this phenomenon to be studied scientifically — even using satellites to be on the lookout for possible future UAP events .
Related : 7 things most often mistaken for UFOs Philippe Ailleris is a project controller at the European Space Agency 's Space Research and Technology Center in the Netherlands .
He 's also the primary force behind the Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena Observations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the collection of UAP reports from both amateur and professional astronomers .
There 's a need for the scientific study of UAPs and a requirement to assemble reliable evidence , something that could not be so easily ignored by science , Ailleris told Space.com .
It is necessary to bring scientists objective and high-quality data , Ailleris said .
`` No one knows where and when a UAP can potentially appear , hence the difficulty of scientific research in this domain . ''
Recent years have seen rapid advances in information and communication @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and software , cloud computing and with machine and deep learning , Ailleris said .
These tools offer scientists new possibilities to collect , store , manipulate and transmit data .
Ailleris points to another potent tool .
`` The location over our heads of satellites is the perfect chance to potentially detect something , '' he said .
Working in the space sector , it occurred to Ailleris that Earth-observation civilian satellites could be used to search for UAPs .
One avenue is tapping into free-of-charge imagery collected by the European Union @ @ @ @ @ @ @ managed by the European Commission in partnership with ESA .
Also , there are more and more Earth-scanning spacecraft being launched to take the pulse of our globe .
Such work is no longer limited to major countries or powers , Ailleris said ; private actors have also .
`` This evolution will stimulate forward-thinking ideas across different domains , including controversial topics , '' Ailleris said .
`` And why not the UAP research field ? ''
Working with Ailleris to employ satellite imagery to detect and monitor UAPs is Kevin Knuth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ames Research Center in California 's Silicon Valley .
He is now an associate professor of physics at the University at Albany in New York .
`` We are looking into using satellites to monitor the region of ocean south of Catalina Island where the 2004 Nimitz encounters occurred , '' Knuth said , referring to UAP sightings reported by pilots and radar operators based aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz .
That area will also be the target for a 2021 UAP expedition carried out by Knuth and other researchers .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provide unassailable scientific evidence that UAP objects are real , UAP objects are findable and UAP objects are knowable , '' according to the , which is called UAPx .
The UAPx team includes military veterans and physicists , as well as research scientists and trained observers that will use specialized gear to observe any would-be UAP .
`` We are hoping to detect UAPs , determine their characteristics , flight patterns and any patterns in activity that will allow us to study them more effectively , '' Knuth told Space.com .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UAPs , we are also looking into using satellites to obtain independent confirmation of prominent UAP sightings and to obtain quantifiable information about those UAPs . ''
`` I certainly think that UAP deserve to be studied , just like we would do with any other problem in science , '' said Jacob Haqq-Misra , an astrobiologist with the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle , Washington .
In August , Haqq-Misra helped organize a NASA-sponsored interdisciplinary workshop , called , that sought to prioritize and guide future theoretical and observational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is , observational manifestations of technology , particularly those that could be detected through astronomical or other means .
Haqq-Misra said his knowledge regarding UAPs stems from the public domain , such as the recently released Navy videos and Department of Defense comments .
But otherwise , he has not conducted any of his own investigations into the problem .
`` I also remain agnostic as to any particular hypothesis that might explain UAP , at least until we have more data to consider , '' Haqq-Misra said .
`` The non-human intelligence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I do n't necessarily have any indication that it is more probable than any other hypothesis at this point . ''
Ravi Kopparapu is a planetary scientist at NASA 's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt , Maryland who studies planetary habitability , climate modeling and chemistry in the context of atmosphere characterization .
He views the UAP/UFO phenomena as a scientifically interesting problem , driven in part by observations that seem to defy the laws of physics .
That said , Kopparapu said he 's wary of bringing the term `` extraterrestrial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's because there is absolutely no concrete evidence that I know of that points to them as being extraterrestrial , '' he said .
`` There 's a fundamental problem that we have right now to scientifically study UAP , '' Kopparapu said .
`` We do not have proper data collection of this phenomena that can be shared among interested scientists to verify claims and filter out truly unexplainable events . ''
Also , the entire UAP topic has been much maligned by being associated with ET , Kopparapu added .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the science community , he feels , essentially because of a taboo surrounding ET claims .
`` I think people immediately think about 'aliens ' when they hear UFOs/UAPs , and I want scientists to not fall for that , '' Kopparapu said .
`` Be strictly agnostic and do n't let preconceived ideas cloud judgments .
Have an open mind .
Consider this as a science problem .
If it turns out these have mundane explanations , so be it . ''
Kopparapu and like-minded colleagues are proposing a completely unbiased , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said : `` Let the data lead us to what they are . ''
Leonard David is author of the recently released book , `` Moon Rush : The New Space Race '' published by National Geographic in May 2019 .
A longtime writer for Space.com , David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades .
Follow us @ Spacedotcom , Facebook or Google+ .
This version of the story published on Space.com .

The U.S. Navy recently admitted that, indeed, strangely behaving objects caught on video by jet pilots over the years are genuine head-scratchers. There are eyewitness accounts not only from pilots but from radar operators and technicians, too.
In August, the Navy established an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force to investigate the nature and origin of these odd sightings and determine if they could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security.
The recently observed UAPs purportedly have accelerations that range from almost 100 Gs to thousands of Gs — far higher than a human pilot could survive. There's no air disturbance visible. They don't produce sonic booms. These and other oddities have captured the attention of "I told you so, they're here" UFO believers.
But there's also a rising call for this phenomenon to be studied scientifically — even using satellites to be on the lookout for possible future UAP events.
Related: 7 things most often mistaken for UFOs
Wanted: high-quality evidence
Philippe Ailleris is a project controller at the European Space Agency's Space Research and Technology Center in the Netherlands. He's also the primary force behind the Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena Observations Reporting Scheme, a project to facilitate the collection of UAP reports from both amateur and professional astronomers.
There's a need for the scientific study of UAPs and a requirement to assemble reliable evidence, something that could not be so easily ignored by science, Ailleris told Space.com.
It is necessary to bring scientists objective and high-quality data, Ailleris said. "No one knows where and when a UAP can potentially appear, hence the difficulty of scientific research in this domain."
Recent years have seen rapid advances in information and communication technologies — for example, open tools and software, cloud computing and artificial intelligence with machine and deep learning, Ailleris said. These tools offer scientists new possibilities to collect, store, manipulate and transmit data.
Ailleris points to another potent tool. "The location over our heads of satellites is the perfect chance to potentially detect something," he said.
Working in the space sector, it occurred to Ailleris that Earth-observation civilian satellites could be used to search for UAPs. One avenue is tapping into free-of-charge imagery collected by the European Union's Copernicus satellites , an Earth-observing program coordinated and managed by the European Commission in partnership with ESA.
Also, there are more and more Earth-scanning spacecraft being launched to take the pulse of our globe. Such work is no longer limited to major countries or powers, Ailleris said; private actors have also entered the planet-viewing scene .
"This evolution will stimulate forward-thinking ideas across different domains, including controversial topics," Ailleris said. "And why not the UAP research field?"
Related: UFO watch: 8 times the government looked for flying saucers
The "Gimbal" UAP, observed off the U.S. East Coast by a Navy jet in 2015. (Image credit: DOD/U.S. Navy)
UAP expedition
Working with Ailleris to employ satellite imagery to detect and monitor UAPs is Kevin Knuth, a former scientist with NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. He is now an associate professor of physics at the University at Albany in New York.
"We are looking into using satellites to monitor the region of ocean south of Catalina Island where the 2004 Nimitz encounters occurred," Knuth said, referring to UAP sightings reported by pilots and radar operators based aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
That area will also be the target for a 2021 UAP expedition carried out by Knuth and other researchers. The goal of the outing is "to provide unassailable scientific evidence that UAP objects are real, UAP objects are findable and UAP objects are knowable," according to the website for the project , which is called UAPx.
The UAPx team includes military veterans and physicists, as well as research scientists and trained observers that will use specialized gear to observe any would-be UAP.
"We are hoping to detect UAPs, determine their characteristics, flight patterns and any patterns in activity that will allow us to study them more effectively," Knuth told Space.com. "In addition to monitoring a region for UAPs, we are also looking into using satellites to obtain independent confirmation of prominent UAP sightings and to obtain quantifiable information about those UAPs."
Related: 5 bold claims of alien life
The "GoFast" UAP, observed by a U.S. Navy jet in 2015. (Image credit: DOD/U.S. Navy)
Science problem
"I certainly think that UAP deserve to be studied, just like we would do with any other problem in science," said Jacob Haqq-Misra, an astrobiologist with the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle, Washington.
In August, Haqq-Misra helped organize a NASA-sponsored interdisciplinary workshop, called TechnoClimes 2020 , that sought to prioritize and guide future theoretical and observational studies of non-radio " technosignatures " — that is, observational manifestations of technology, particularly those that could be detected through astronomical or other means.
Haqq-Misra said his knowledge regarding UAPs stems from the public domain, such as the recently released Navy videos and Department of Defense comments. But otherwise, he has not conducted any of his own investigations into the problem.
"I also remain agnostic as to any particular hypothesis that might explain UAP, at least until we have more data to consider," Haqq-Misra said. "The non-human intelligence hypothesis is a popular one, but I don't necessarily have any indication that it is more probable than any other hypothesis at this point."
Logo of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon expedition, or UAPx. (Image credit: UAPx)
'Outlaws' of physics
Ravi Kopparapu is a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland who studies planetary habitability, climate modeling and chemistry in the context of exoplanet atmosphere characterization. He views the UAP/UFO phenomena as a scientifically interesting problem, driven in part by observations that seem to defy the laws of physics.
That said, Kopparapu said he's wary of bringing the term "extraterrestrial" into the conversation. "That's because there is absolutely no concrete evidence that I know of that points to them as being extraterrestrial," he said.
"There's a fundamental problem that we have right now to scientifically study UAP," Kopparapu said. "We do not have proper data collection of this phenomena that can be shared among interested scientists to verify claims and filter out truly unexplainable events."
Also, the entire UAP topic has been much maligned by being associated with ET, Kopparapu added. This association prevents a thorough scientific investigation by the science community, he feels, essentially because of a taboo surrounding ET claims.
"I think people immediately think about 'aliens' when they hear UFOs/UAPs, and I want scientists to not fall for that," Kopparapu said. "Be strictly agnostic and don't let preconceived ideas cloud judgments. Have an open mind. Consider this as a science problem. If it turns out these have mundane explanations, so be it."
Kopparapu and like-minded colleagues are proposing a completely unbiased, agnostic approach to study UAP, he said: "Let the data lead us to what they are."
Leonard David is author of the recently released book, "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" published by National Geographic in May 2019. A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of the story published on Space.com.