ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 738
June 23, 2015
Step Into Pluto Time With This NASA App
Photo credit:
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
There are never enough hours in the day, but imagine if your day were six times longer than it is now. This would be the case if you were living on Pluto, where it takes the dwarf planet about 248 years to orbit the Sun and each day is 153 hours long.
Scientists Snap Stunning Photograph Of Star Cluster
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Gemini Observatory near-infrared image of the globular cluster Liller 1. Gemini Observatory/AURA
Flecks of glimmering gold scattered on a black background. It isn't a description of a new line of clothes, but a beautiful globular cluster that was recently photographed.
The star cluster, named Liller 1, is certainly one of the haute couture models of the sky, but it has been a tricky star system to snap. When we look out at it from Earth, Liller 1's angle from us is almost in line with the center of the Milky Way. This means there's a lot of dust muddying our view of it.
To Breathe, Immature Beetles Flex Their Abs Like Belly Dancers
Photo credit:
A pupa of the beetle Zophobas morio from the June 2015 cover of Biology Letters. Hodjat Pendar, Melissa Kenny and John J. Socha
Young, developing beetles in their pupal stage look limp and mostly lifeless, except for maybe the occasional squirm. They’re somewhere between the grubby larva phase and the fully-matured adult stage. And while they’re obviously alive and breathing, researchers aren’t sure how pupae actually deliver oxygen to their tissues. Large adult beetles flex their abdomens like belly dancers, Science describes, to pump out carbon dioxide and push oxygen to the rest of their cells.
Will Millimeter Waves Maximize 5G Wireless?
Every decade or so since the first cellular networks appeared the companies that make mobile devices and the networks linking them have worked out new requirements defining transmission speeds, capacity and other technical characteristics. Each new set of requirements is referred to as the latest “generation.”
Today’s fourth-generation, or 4G, wireless digital networks made it possible for smartphones and tablets to deliver voice and data communications with bandwidths measuring many millions of bits per second. Specific data speeds vary by carrier but most networks enable users to download a file containing a full-length movie—more than one gigabyte in size—in less than 10 minutes.
The next generation—5G wireless—will have to deliver a huge leap in performance to handle surging mobile network traffic, much of which will be large multimedia files. According to Cisco Systems’ most recent Visual Networking Index (VNI), mobile data traffic will grow 10-fold globally between 2014 and 2019, reaching 24.3 exabytes per month worldwide in 2019. (An exabyte is one billion gigabytes.)
The details of 5G are a long way from being decided but it is expected to provide Internet connections 40 times faster and with at least four times more coverage worldwide than the current 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communications standard. Even without a clear definition of 5G, testing is underway or in the works in places including Finland, Russia and South Korea.
One of the most promising potential 5G technologies under consideration is the use of high-frequency signals—in the millimeter-wave frequency band—that could allocate more bandwidth to deliver faster, higher-quality video and multimedia content. Other lines of research seek to enable a single mobile device to simultaneously connect to multiple wireless networks to boost connectivity and speed.
Mustafa Cenk Gursoy, an associate professor in Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, and researchers at The Ohio State University have received a $460,000 National Science Foundation award to study ways to more efficiently access the radio spectrum over the next three years. Scientific American spoke with Gursoy about the need for 5G and the role that millimeter-wave frequencies, in particular, could play.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
Why do we need a new wireless standard?
The motivation behind a new standard is the exponential growth in wireless. We’re talking about billions of users, billions of devices and billions of connections. That’s something that a new standard has to address, because 4G is not going to be efficient enough to handle this much growth, much of it due to mobile video traffic. Smartphones, tablets, social networking sites and video-sharing sites have helped mobile video traffic become more than half of all mobile traffic.
On top of this, people have really high expectations for wireless services. They want a high level of reliability, low levels of latency [delayed uploading or downloading of content] and constant connectivity—anytime, anywhere. The Internet of Things, where new types of devices are connected digitally, as well as the increasing use of mobile technology for health care, smart power grid and vehicular networking create new expectations for wireless, especially when it comes to speed and reliability.
Any move to 5G wireless technology is still years away. What should we know about the standard at this point?
There’s been an increase in interest in 5G within the past year, particularly from the research community. And telecom companies in the U.S., Europe, South Korea, China and Japan are interested in designing, testing and implementing these kinds of systems, so there’s definitely some momentum building. It’s not definite what 5G will be but people are talking about candidate technologies and what needs to be addressed in this next-generation wireless standard. And it might not be that far away—some companies are thinking they will have 5G systems up and running by 2020. That’s not really a lot of time.
How will 5G differ from 4G?
One difference will be that 5G may move wireless signals to a higher frequency band, operating at millimeter-length wavelengths between 30 and 300 gigahertz (GHz) on the radio spectrum. That’s going to open up a huge amount of bandwidth and alleviate concerns about wireless traffic congestion. Radar, satellite and some military systems use this area of the spectrum currently but it’s definitely less occupied than the spectrum currently in use. In addition, whereas 4G supports hundreds of megabits-per-second data rates, 5G is promising data rates in the gigabits-per-second range. It may not support those higher rates at all times in all places, but it will lower latency rates overall.
Are there drawbacks to wireless devices operating at such high frequencies?
Generally, as you move to higher frequencies, transmission range gets shorter—hundreds of meters rather than kilometers. And signals are unable to penetrate walls easily. Some hardware components, such as analog-to-digital converters, might also be expensive. We are still learning about millimeter wave and are testing its capabilities. Another challenge is if the transmitter and the receiver don’t have a line-of-site connection, there is a lot of attenuation [loss] in the signal. We’re conducting performance analyses to better understand the communication reliability and plan to publish a paper in the fall at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference in Boston.
What can be done to overcome these limitations?
There has been a trend toward small cells [portable base stations often called microcells, femtocells or picocells, depending on their ranges]. Millimeter waves can take advantage of these technologies, as they are better suited for transmission over relatively short ranges. High-frequency signals can also be reused across short distances by different cells in a network, meaning the available spectrum is used more efficiently. In addition, antenna size is inversely proportional to frequency size, so higher-frequency signals would require smaller antennas. You could pack more antennas into devices. That enables directional transmissions—you could actually steer the signal in a particular direction. This could overcome the loss of some of the signal transmission strength. More than one antenna operating in the same frequency range can also send multiple streams of data, increasing the data rate.
What research are you and your colleagues doing in the area of millimeter waves?
This first year we are learning the characteristics of communication in the millimeter range of frequencies and doing some performance analyses of millimeter-wave networks. For a short range, with devices in fixed positions, millimeter waves can connect devices to a network. The challenge is delivering this service to a user who is walking or driving. I also want to see networking scenarios where you can actually support multimedia traffic in a mobile environment using millimeter wave.
How does millimeter wave improve energy efficiency?
The use of directional transmission between the base station and a mobile device reduces signal interference, and that might account for the reduction in energy use we’re seeing. When you establish a direct link and suppress interference, you can send data at higher rates for a given transmission energy level. Therefore, throughput per unit energy increases and hence energy efficiency improves. In such an analysis, it is also important to take into account possible increases in hardware energy consumption due to operation at high frequencies. Energy efficiency is very important here as well because of the growth in the number of users and devices—and efficiency should be considered with any new standard.
Owl-Inspired Tech Could Make Wind Turbines Quieter
Photo credit:
Owl in flight. Jaroslaw Saternus/Shutterstock
As they swoop down on mice at night, the prey have no idea what's coming. This is because owls are the experts of silent flight. By studying how the birds manage this stealthy feat, scientists have developed a sound-dampening technology that could be used to coat wind turbines, airplane wings, and even the fans of computers, to make them quieter.
Solar Panels Could Come With Built-In Storage
Photo credit:
Schematic of polymer donors (green) and fullerene acceptors (purple, tan) that pass electrons to external fullerenes that store the charge. UCLA Chemistry
Inspired by the mechanisms used by plants for holding onto the energy they capture from the sun, UCLA researchers have created predecessors of solar cells that could one day store the energy they produce until it is most needed. If panels can be made in this way at commercial prices and efficiencies, the technology could remove the need for additional storage systems under many circumstances.
The Problem with Female Superheroes
What do you want to be when you grow up? When pondering this question, most kids have given at least passing consideration to one fantastical if improbable calling: superhero. There is an understandable allure to the superhero position — wearing a special uniform (possibly with powerful accessories), saving the world from evil, and let's not forget possessing a wickedly cool special power like x-ray vision or the ability to fly.
But new research by Hillary Pennell and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz at the University of Missouri suggests that, at least for women, the influence of superheroes is not always positive. Although women play a variety of roles in the superhero genre, including helpless maiden and powerful heroine, the female characters all tend to be hypersexualized, from their perfect, voluptuous figures to their sexy, revealing attire. Exposure to this, they show, can impact beliefs about gender roles, body esteem, and self-objectification.
Consider, for example, superhero movies like Spider-man or Superman. These action-packed films typically feature a strong, capable, intelligent man fighting a villainous force. The goal of course is to save humanity, but more often than not there is also an immediate need to rescue a damsel in distress. The female victim is typically delicate, naive, and defenseless, but at the same time sexy and beautiful. What she lacks in strength and cunning she makes up for in kindness and curves. It is not surprising (or insignificant) that she is often the object of the hero's affections.
Pennell and Behm-Morawitz posited that exposure to these stereotypic female victims, whose primary appeal is sexual, may lower women’s body esteem, heighten the value they place on body image, and result in less egalitarian gender role beliefs and expectations. However, female characters have come a long way in the superhero genre, and it’s possible that the antidote to the helpless fair maiden is the competent, commanding superheroine. The X-Men films, for example, feature a number of empowering female characters like Storm, Jean Gray, and Dazzler, each of whom wields a unique special ability and displays impressive cognitive and physical competence. Perhaps exposure to this new generation of female heroines will result in more egalitarian gender beliefs, higher body esteem, and greater prioritization of physical competence over appearance.
Still, today’s superheroines, like their female victim counterparts, are often unrealistic, sexualized representations of female figures, with large chests, curvaceous backsides and unattainable hourglass dimensions. Their skin-tight outfits accentuate their sexuality with plunging necklines and bare skin, and many of their names (e.g., Risque, Mystique, Ruby Summers) connote, shall we say, a slightly less respectable profession than superheroine.
Pennell and Behm-Morawitz thus speculated that while today’s powerful superheroines might elevate egalitarian beliefs about gender roles, their sexualized nature might simultaneously have destructive effects on body image and self-objectification.
To explore the effects of watching sexualized female victims and heroines, Pennell and Behm-Morawitz asked female college students to watch a 13-minute video montage of scenes that either featured female victims from the Spider-man series or female heroines from the X-Men series. After watching one of these video montages, participants completed a survey that assessed gender role beliefs, body image, and self-objectification. A number of other measures (e.g., movie-going habits, enjoyment of different film genres) were included to camouflage the purpose of the study, and in a control condition, participants simply completed the survey but did not watch either film montage.
Gender role beliefs were assessed via the Attitudes toward Women Scale, which evaluated participants' views about men's and women's responsibilities at home and in the workplace, appropriate attire and appearance in public, rationality and problem solving skills, and physical strength. Body image was measured using the Body Esteem Scale, which requires individuals to rate personal satisfaction with general appearance and specific body parts (e.g., face, chest, thighs). Finally, the Self-Objectification Questionnaire required participants to indicate the importance of their body image and body competence to their personal identity.
Relative to participants in the control condition, those who viewed the sexualized-victim female character did indeed report less egalitarian gender beliefs. Thus, women who watched the Spider-man montage were less likely to agree statements such as, “Men and women should share household work equally,” and more likely to agree with statements such as, “Men are better at taking on mental challenges than women.” They did not, however, experience drops in body esteem or rate the importance of body appearance more highly. It seems that watching the beauty-in-need-of-rescue reinforced traditional gender roles, but did not create the desire to appear more like her physically.
What happened when women instead watched the agile and proficient superheroines? Did these characters serve to empower women? Sadly, no. The superheroine montage did nothing to improve egalitarian views about gender roles, though at least it did not lower those views. Pennell and Behm-Morawitz argue that the sexualization of the superheroine characters serves to reinforce rather than challenge stereotypical gender role beliefs, and this effect may overshadow any benefit derived from observing a strong, intelligent, capable female character.
Watch out, as these superheroines pack a bigger punch: Relative to control participants, women who watched the X-Men montage reported lower body esteem. They also ranked the importance of physical competence more highly. Pennell and Behm-Morawitz suggest that women may admire the power and status of superheroines and consequently desire to emulate them. Because these sexualized superheroines have unattainable body dimensions and engage in unrealistic physical feats (e.g., saving the world in spiked heels), it’s not surprising that female viewers are left feeling dissatisfied with their own physical appearance and prowess.
Thus, while the roles for women in superhero movies have evolved from the helpless, easy mark to the commanding, mighty protector, the central appeal of these characters as sexual goddesses is the same. As a consequence, the superheroines, like their victim counterparts, are undermining rather than improving women’s perceptions of their own bodies and physical competence. And they are doing nothing to improve beliefs about women’s roles in society.
These new findings add to a growing literature demonstrating that the gender-related information conveyed in popular media can affect personal perceptions and cultural standards about gender. Expectations and attitudes about gender roles are shaped by a variety of entertainment media, from superhero movies and G-rated children’s films to music videos, advertisements, and video games. One recent study even found that regular viewers of a reality television show featuring pregnant teens had more favorable attitudes about teen pregnancy and believed that the benefits of teen pregnancy outweigh the risks. Clearly the things we watch, even if fantastical or sensationalized, affect our beliefs. Superhero movies and other forms of entertainment, which are often viewed as a temporary escape from reality, may in fact be shaping our realities in ways that are more harmful than heroic.
New Smart Insulin Patch Could Be a ‘Game Changer’
Photo credit:
The smart insulin patch. The lab of Zhen Gu, Ph.D.
For many who suffer from diabetes, insulin injections can be a painful and ‘imprecise’ process of keeping their blood sugar levels under control. A new ‘smart’ insulin patch could do away with these painful injections and revolutionize the way diabetics keep their blood sugar levels in check.
June 21, 2015
Charleston Shooting: NOT About Racism?
Charleston Shooting: NOT About Racism? It’s impossible to fix a problem that can’t be admitted. 9 people were killed because they were black. This was a racial hate crime, not an attack on christianity.
The Daily Show – Charleston Church Shooting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjzrvRKv6Ks
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Biotech Firm 3D Prints Fake Rhino Horn That’s Genetically Identical To The Real Thing
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If you're stupid enough to believe rhino horn has magical powers, at least you don't need to kill these creatures to get it. Jiri Balik/Shutterstock
Biotech startup Pembient is planning to deploy the forces of DNA technology and economics to save the rhino. It's risky plan, that could undermine other efforts, but with poaching out of control and subpopulations on the verge of extinction Pembient argue this is the best bet for the survival of the rhinoceroses in the wild.
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