Category Archives: Futurism

According to new research,dark matter may be an even bigger mystery than previously believed.

The stuff is thought to make up a significant percentage of the mass of the universe yet its near impossible to study, let alone observe.

Physicists have had to resort to studying the way dark matter bends light between distant sources such as a galaxy and the observer, an effect called gravitational lensing. The higher the concentration of dark matter, the more pronounced the effect.

But when a team of European researchers looked at data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope, they found that the gravitational lensing effect around massive structures called galaxy clusters was ten times as strong as predicted by simulations.

We have done a lot of testing of the data in this study, and we are sure that this mismatch indicates that some physical ingredient is missing either from the simulations or from our understanding of the nature of dark matter, said Massimo Meneghetti, of the INAF-Observatory of Astrophysics and Space Science of Bologna in Italyand lead author of a paper about the research published today in the journal Science, in an ESA statement.

In other words were missing a key ingredient.

One possible origin for this discrepancy is that we may be missing some key physics in the simulations, Meneghetti said in a NASA statement.

To conduct their research, Meneghettis team produced a dark-matter map using observations from of a sample of three massive galaxy clusters.

They discovered something unexpected: smaller-scale images nested within larger lens distortions in each galaxy clusters core. In other words, the gravitational lensing effect was significant, leading them to believe they had stumbled upon dense concentrations of dark matter.

The discrepancy highlights just how little we know about the mysterious stuff that appears to make up most of the known universe.

READ MORE: Dark matter might be even stranger than we thought, according to Hubble [Digital Trends]

More on dark matter: Astronomers Discover Deep-Space Structure, 1.4 Billion Light Years Across

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Dark Matter's Effect Is 10x What It Should Be, Scientists Say - Futurism

Bill Gates the retired Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist has emerged as a surprisingly high-profile figure during the coronavirus pandemic, criticizing the governments response to the disease and raising money to distribute a vaccine.

Now, in a new interview with CNBC, Gates says that hes still optimistic that a vaccine is on the way. Its possible that one will be available by the end of the year, he said, but he considers it unlikely.

The only vaccine that if everything went perfectly, might seek the emergency use license by the end of October, would be Pfizer, he said. None of the vaccines are likely to seek approval in the U.S. before the end of October.

But by the very end of 2020 or 2021, the multibillionaire said, he thinks that the chances will start to get better and better.

I do think once you get into, say, December or January, the chances are that at least two or three will (seek approval) if the effectiveness is there, he told the network.

In the same interview, Gates also expressed optimism about the results of the vaccines under development by Moderna and AstraZeneca.

We do see good antibody levels both in the phase one and the phase two, so were pretty hopeful, Gates said.

Both Russia and China have already approved emergency vaccines but without testing rigorous enough to convince doctors.

This is a reckless and foolish decision, Francois Balloux, Professor of Computational Systems Biology at University College London said, told Science Media Centre in August.

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Bill Gates: Sorry, But It's Unlikely There'll Be a Vaccine This Year - Futurism

Fire Hazard

In recent years, more than 1,500 customers have reported that their Amazon-made electronics are sparking, catching fire, and even exploding.

Reports include poorly-made microwaves that spark and smoke when theyre turned on, USB cords that heat up and start fires, and others, CNN reports. The common thread is that they were all made by AmazonBasics rather than third-party sellers. And despite clear safety hazards, many of the products in question are still on the market.

Amazon has ended up in hot water for shoddy goods in the past, like when third-party vendors were busted selling moldy and spoiled food. But these electrical problems, which CNN reports have caused house and car fires that caused personal injuries, all stem from products made by Amazon itself.

This is more than a reliability problem, this is a potential safety problem, Michael Pecht, an engineer who evaluated the troublesome products at CNNs request, told the network.

Amazon told CNN that it responds to reports of hazardous items by pulling them from the marketplace or even changing the products themselves. Amazon indeed removed some of the dangerous items, but CNN found that dozens more that were still there.

The company also downplayed the problem. While experts told CNN that the number of customers complaining about the same fire hazards reduces the odds that the problem was user error, Amazon said that relying on customer complaints can be misleading.

READ MORE: Dozens of Amazons own products have been reported as dangerous melting, exploding or even bursting into flames. Many are still on the market [CNN]

More on Amazon: Amazon Keeps Delivering Moldy, Spoiled Food to Customers

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Amazon Products Are Reportedly Exploding and Catching Fire - Futurism

Colleges are back in session in the United States and experts arent convinced schools are ready to handle a looming mental health crisis among students.

I am so concerned, Bernadette Melnyk, the Chief Wellness Officer and Dean of the College of Nursing at The Ohio State University, told Futurism. I mean look at the statistics, prior to COVID, of mental health issues in college students. When we are getting 56 percent of students admitting that they feel things are hopeless or 46 percent of them feeling so depressed that its difficult to function? That was before COVID. What are we going to see during and following COVID?

This is a pandemic within a pandemic, Melnyk added.

Many first-year and returning college students recently left their childhood homes for the start of a new academic year. Unless their school is operating online, that means moving into a dorm room and hoping that the deadly pandemic,which is still spreading throughout the nation, doesnt come their way.

Compounding the problem, some college towns have already become COVID-19 hotspots, according to The Verge. And while managing the surge of new coronavirus cases will be a challenge, an oft-overlooked, equally-dire healthcare crisis will likely soon follow: colleges getting overwhelmed as they try to provide mental healthcare to everyone who needs it.

Unfortunately, over 600 American universities still plan to conduct classes primarily or entirely in person as of this articles publication.

These pressures dont exclusively target college students. But undergrads are in a unique position. Many are moving away from home for the first time and navigating a brand new chapter of their lives only now theyre also expected to do so during a deadly pandemic that could affect them, their friends, or their family.

In other words, the dangers of COVID-19 are likely to make an already psychologically-taxing time even worse. Research published this month in the journal JAMA Network Open found that rates of depression have tripled among American adults since the pandemic began. Just over one in four Americans between the ages 18 and 24 have contemplated suicide during the same time period. About a third of graduate students reported signs of anxiety or depression, according to Nature News. The non-profit group United Way recently released research showing how some U.S. states, including Alabama and Texas, have nearly 1,000 residents for each mental healthcare provider. The national average falls at 438.

In light of all that, Melnyk believes that many colleges are unready.

I think some [schools] have good plans, Melnyk said. But Im sure many do not, seriously.

Given the trifecta of increased need, limited access, and the costs of American healthcare, on-campus services may be the only support available to some students. But students told Futurism that in recent semesters, their schools have been woefully under-resourced for the realities of campus mental healthcare.

I tried to make an appointment in November, when I was really needing help, Libby, a recent graduate of Weber State University, told Futurism. I got a call days later from the center, and they said they would be available after winter break, and that I should try again in January. When I tried again, they said their next available appointment was in late March. I had already sought care elsewhere because I was in severe need of psychological and psychiatric evaluation. I had to take on the cost myself because it was relatively urgent and I couldnt wait that long anymore.

Others stuck around for the wait, just to get such ineffective or limited care that the whole exercise felt worthless. Another student told Futurism that she reached out to her schools counseling center because she felt suicidal, but was told she would have to wait weeks before she could make an appointment. When her session finally arrived, she was paired with a psychology graduate student who was so poorly trained that they started crying while the student described her story.

You dont have to look too hard to uncover similar horror stories of students who were unable to get the mental healthcare they needed. Unless schools have really taken steps to improve, its unlikely that theyll be able to care for everyone who needs support during the new semester.

Leandra Peloquin, a mental health case manager at San Francisco State University, handles off-campus counseling referrals for students. Peloquin was optimistic that mental healthcare providers are trying to do everything they can to help students, though she admitted that problems could arise.

I feel we are at the point in society where weve made a lot of technological advances that enable us to connect to our students in different ways. I think our students are flexible. Theyre adaptable, Peloquin said. I think that if the effective efforts are made so that students can connect, can receive the support that they need, that the university will be successful.

She says that she expects mental healthcare to go smoothly at first this year, but that theres the possibility the counseling center gets so many appointment requests that some students will have to wait, even though they always reserve space for any urgent crises.

I think that it can be a struggle, right? Peloquin told Futurism. Just thinking about universities we, for example, we dont have a waitlist right now. Now as the semester gets deeper and deeper in were looking later in the semester we could perhaps have a waitlist if were at capacity. So it really depends on what the need is.

The challenges that university counselors are about to face only amplify existing problems with how mental healthcare is offered. Melnyk has made a career talking to college presidents, counseling centers, and anyone else who could change the system about how the current paradigms focus on crisis management is a major disservice to students.

First of all, we have got to recognize all the findings from research that show that when our students are struggling with mental health issues, their performance, their engagement, is going to be a lot worse, Melnyk said. What universities dont typically do is help their students from the get-go.

Basically, in order for a student to get the counseling they need, they must first suffer, then recognize that they need help, and then make and wait for an appointment. Its no surprise, then, that two of three students who face mental health issues on campus ultimately leave school early.

We live in such a sick healthcare system, Melnyk said. We really do. And weve got to flip that paradigm to wellcare and prevention, which would be so much more beneficial to the population our health outcomes, our academic outcomes, and cost.

But college students, especially first-years, are more likely to face these challenges without the social support network of close friends or family just by virtue of being on campus and away from home, perhaps for the first time.

Holding school entirely online comes with its own set of challenges. Take the University of North Carolina, which was declared a clusterfuck by its own student newspaper. UNC attempted to open in-person and immediately caused a COVID-19 outbreak before pivoting to online education.

Futurism contacted Dr. Allen OBarr, a psychiatrist who serves as director of the UNC counseling center, before the school shut down. By the time we got in touch, UNC had already gone online and OBarr was relieved about it.

Im really glad that we did it, he said. Its safer for all even though I suspect that it will have big financial implications.

Across the board, universities have adapted to the pandemic by offering mental healthcare and counseling remotely, through private video or phone calls. Unfortunately, even then, students can get left behind.

Doctors are licensed to practice at the state level. For telehealth purposes, that means that the practitioner and the patient must be in the same state to have a session without running afoul of the law. So even if a schools counseling center is up and running and has adequately prepared to offer teletherapy, students who live out of state arent allowed to access it.

OBarr told Futurism that he and his team at UNC need to evaluate the laws on a state-by-state basis to see if theyre allowed to help students. At San Francisco State, Peloquin says she and a colleague put together a written guide and, if needed, can hop on the phone to help out-of-state students seek out mental health resources in their area.

Melnyk points to the steps shes taken at Ohio State as a model for the nation. Namely, she says, schools must preemptively promote wellness and preventative care rather than playing whack-a-mole with emergencies.

From freshman year early teach evidence-based techniques that we know are protective against mental health disorders, Melnyk recommends. Like mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral skills building. I look at this as mental resiliency, right? Equipping ourselves with those resiliency skills that we know are protective factors against mental health disorders.

And, in that regard, Melnyk says that students need to step up as best they can.

We cant place this 100 percent on universities. Our students have to take responsibility for their mental health too. They need to make their mental health a priority. They have to engage in healthy habits that we know are good for mental and physical health.

If theres any sort of upshot to all of this, experts tell Futurism, its that we as a society might learn from our mistakes and build a mental healthcare system thats better, more accessible, and more compassionate.

This pandemic has been a great tragedy for many people and it seems it will continue to be for a while, OBarr told Futurism. There is no disregarding the suffering. That said, I believe that it has caused us to sit still long enough to see inequities in our national and global system that privileged individuals could afford to overlook in the pre-pandemic world.

I truly believe that we have a chance to emerge as a better nation and global society if we can find a way to all work together on this, he added.

Melnyk is encouraged that more schools are looking for Chief Wellness Officers or asking her to share her expertise, but these changes especially the paradigm shift she advocates for can take years to implement when faced with institutional barriers and persistent stigmas that surround mental healthcare.

But we have an urgent situation here going on, Melnyk said. Weve got so much research to show that when students dont have good mental health, by golly, their grades arent going to be good. Theyre not going to show up to class, theyre going to slip.

I dont know that people really understand that to the degree they need to understand that.

If you are experiencing suicidal ideation and need help, please call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text HELLO to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

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The Mental Healthcare Crisis Coming to American Universities - Futurism

Robot Underlords

Two major convenience store franchises in Japan are testing out robots capable of stocking shelves using two creepy hands with three fingers each, CNN reports.

The seven-foot is called Model-T, named after the Ford automobile that triggered a car revolution in the early 1900s, and was developed by Japanese startup Telexistence. During a pilot program, it was controlled by a pilot in an office miles away.

It is able to grasp, or pick and place, objects of several different shapes and sizes into different locations, Matt Komatsu, head of business development and operations at Telexistence, told CNN.

That makes it more nimble and mobile than the robots used by Walmart to scan shelves for inventory, according to its inventors.

The goal is to allow a single human to work at multiple stores, a solution for possible labor shortages. Japan also has a rapidly aging population with fewer able-bodied people ready to take on such jobs.

The Model T is controlled by a human wearing a virtual reality headset and special gloves. A microphone and headphones even allow for communication with nearby shoppers.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic ended up accelerating development of the Model T as such a technology could end up reducing human-to-human contact. According to CNN, Telexistence saw an uptick in interest over the last couple of months.

READ MORE: Seven-foot robots are stacking shelves in Tokyo convenience stores [CNN]

More on robotic workers: Walmart Employees Hate Their New Robot Coworkers

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Stores In Japan Are Stocking Shelves With Remote-Controlled Robots - Futurism

Not even a decade ago, scientists discovered a bizarre new state of matter in which atoms arranged themselves in a repeating pattern, similar to what youd find in a crystal metal or rock.

But rather than only being arranged in a pattern in space, these atoms were in constant motion over time as well. And thats how they got their fantastical name: time crystals.

The unusual phenomenon has only been observed a handful of times since synthesizing time crystals for the first time but now, an international team of researchers have achieved the next breakthrough: theyve observed two time crystals interacting with each other.

Controlling the interaction of two time crystals is a major achievement, Samuli Autti from Lancaster University, lead author of an article about the work published in the journal Nature Materials, said in a statement. Before this, nobody had observed two time crystals in the same system, let alone seen them interact.

This means that we could be one step closer to actually taking advantage of time crystals, likely within atomic clocks. Atomic clocks measure time far more accurately than a standard clock by using minuscule changes in frequencies, and have been used in the creation of GPS.

The team also suggests that their experiment proves that time crystals obey the general dynamics of quantum mechanics and that it should be further investigated whether they could be applied in the field of quantum information processing.

To make their observation, the team observed a rare helium isotope called Helium-3, which has one missing neutron, at within one ten thousandth of a degree from absolute zero (-273.15 degrees Celsius). At these cold temperatures, helium forms a superfluid, behaving like a liquid with zero viscosity.

In this state, the researchers created two time crystals and allowed them to touch each other. For the first time, they observed particles flowing back and forth from one crystal to the other. In physics, thats known as the Josephson effect when a current flows uninterrupted without any voltage being applied, usually observed with two or more superconductors.

READ MORE: First ever observation of time crystals interacting [Lancaster University]

More on time crystals: Physicists Created the First-Ever Time Crystals

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Scientists Observe Time Crystals Interacting With Each Other - Futurism

RoBeetle

A team of researchers have built a tiny microbot that runs entirely on methanol, a type of alcohol. The robot, dubbed RoBeetle, weighs less than a tenth of a gram and doesnt even need any other external power sources such as cables or electromagnetic fields to crawl along.

The energy density of batteries is very low, so we needed new sources of power, Nestor Perez-Arancibia at the University of Southern California, the designer of the robot, told New Scientist. We were able to make it so light and small because were not relying on batteries.

Heres how it works: as the methanol vapor of the fuel burns, tiny nickel-titanium alloy wires the robots artificial muscles repeatedly expand and then contract as they cool, causing it to crawl forward.

According to the researchers paper published in Science Robotics on Wednesday, the RoBeetle is a real powerhouse. It can lug 2.6 times its own weight. It can also carry an additional 95 milligram fuel tank, allowing it to crawl along for up to two hours.

The team is now trying to figure out how to keep it running for even longer. Theyre also seeing if they can attach wings to the tiny robot with funding from DARPA.

We want to create the first completely autonomous flying robot at beetle scale, Perez-Arancibia told New Scientist.

READ MORE: Watch a tiny robot powered by alcohol [Science]

More on robots: US Army Scientist Brags That Hes Trying to Build the Bad Guy From Terminator 2

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Relatable: This Tiny Robot Is Powered by Alcohol - Futurism

A team of Harvard astronomers have a wild new theory: the Sun used to have a companion star, making our solar system a binary one during its ancient history.

The astronomers say the theory could explain the formation of the Oort cloud, a theoretical cloud of dust and smaller objects in the distant regions of our solar system that many believe was created out of the left overs from the early solar system.

In a new preprint submitted last month to the preprint archive arXiv, the team suggests that the Sun used to have a long lost binary star companion. Such a system could explain how some objects were scattered to the far reaches of the solar system, sometimes even making it to neighboring systems and vice versa.

Previous models have had difficulty producing the expected ratio between scattered disk objects and outer Oort cloud objects, Amir Siraj, a Harvard undergraduate student involved in the research, said in a statement. The binary capture model offers significant improvement and refinement, which is seemingly obvious in retrospect: most Sun-like stars are born with binary companions.

A binary star system would be far more likely to capture the Oort cloud.

Binary systems are far more efficient at capturing objects than are single stars, co-author Avi Loeb said in the statement. If the Oort cloud formed as observed, it would imply that the Sun did in fact have a companion of similar mass that was lost before the Sun left its birth cluster.

The theory could also have sweeping implications of how life came to be on Earth.

Objects in the outer Oort Cloud may have played important roles in Earths history, such as possibly delivering water to Earth and causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, said Siraj.

The implications dont end there. Some astronomers believe our solar system is hiding a ninth major planet from us, dubbed Planet Nine. This potential planet so far has been hypothesized to be anything from a massive super-Earth planet to a collection of over 100 minor planets found well beyond the orbit of Neptune or even a tiny black hole.

The astronomers want to use the upcoming Vera C Rubin Observatory (VRO), slated to begin operations early next year, to confirm the existence of Planet Nine and other potential trans-Neptunian objects like it.

It is unclear where they came from, and our new model predicts that there should be more objects with a similar orbital orientation to Planet Nine, Loeb said.

If the VRO verifies the existence of Planet Nine, and a captured origin, and also finds a population of similarly captured dwarf planets, then the binary model will be favored over the lone stellar history that has been long-assumed, Siraj argued.

The team suggests that the Suns long lost binary companion would have been removed by other stars, born alongside our Sun in the same cluster, through their gravitational influence.

The Suns long-lost companion could now be anywhere in the Milky Way, Siraj said.

READ MORE: The sun may have started its life with a binary companion [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics]

More on Planet Nine: Astronomers Want to Figure Out What the Hell Planet Nine Is

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Harvard Astronomers Propose That Our Star System Used to Be Binary - Futurism

Leaking Air

NASA is investigating a small air leak on board the International Space Station. Luckily, the three current crew members arent in immediate danger, according to NASA, and will spend the upcoming weekend inside the Russian segment of the station as they try to find the source of the leak.

A small amount of air leakingout of the station is to be expected.

The stations atmosphere is maintained at pressure comfortable for the crew members, and a tiny bit of that air leaks over time, requiring routine repressurization from nitrogen tanks delivered on cargo resupply missions, reads a NASA statement.

That leak rate, however, has slightly increased, according to NASA, so the teams are working a plan to isolate, identify, and potentially repair the source.

While hunkered down in the Russian segment of the ISS, the crew will close all hatches so that mission control can monitor air pressure in each module. NASA expects some kind of answer by the end of next week.

The Russian segment will allow all three astronauts to float around the main Zvezda module, the Poisk mini-research module, and their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft.

READ MORE: NASA investigating small air leak on International Space Station [Space.com]

More on the ISS: Researchers Built a Gravity Suit to Keep Astronauts Healthy

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NASA Says There's a Small Leak on the International Space Station - Futurism

According to researchers at the University of Illinois, a supernova 65 light-years from Earth likely caused a mass extinction event during the Late Devonian period, 359 million years ago.

The researchers found radioactive isotopes in rocks that may be able to confirm such an event, as detailed in a new paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

During the Late Devonian period, when most life was found in the oceans, one of the worst mass extinctions in Earths history gravely damaged its ecosystem. Yet its never been clear what caused it.

To explain the event, the team looked at rocks that contain ancient plant spores. These spores appeared to have been severely sunburnt by ultraviolet light, likely the consequence of a long-term lack of ozone in the atmosphere.

Earth-based catastrophes such as large-scale volcanism and global warming can destroy the ozone layer, too, but evidence for those is inconclusive for the time interval in question, astronomy and physics professor Brian Fields, lead author, said in a statement. Instead, we propose that one or more supernova explosions, about 65 light-years away from Earth, could have been responsible for the protracted loss of ozone.

It would have been quite the event, lighting up the skies.

To put this into perspective, one of the closest supernova threats today is from the star Betelgeuse, which is over 600 light-years away and well outside of the kill distance of 25 light-years, graduate student and study co-author Adrienne Ertel added.

The team also looked at other ozone depletion causes, including meteorite impacts, and gamma-ray bursts, but those wouldnt have caused a depletion in the longer term.

They suggest that the violent supernova flooded our planet with dangerous UV, X-, and gamma rays, irradiating the ozone layer with effects that would have lasted for up to 100,000 years, according to the researchers.

To confirm their suspicions, the team is now looking for the smoking gun two specific radioactive isotopes of plutonium, originating from the Late Devonian period, that only could have come to Earth from cosmic explosions.

The overarching message of our study is that life on Earth does not exist in isolation, Fields explains. We are citizens of a larger cosmos, and the cosmos intervenes in our lives often imperceptibly, but sometimes ferociously.

READ MORE: An Exploding Star 65 Light-Years From Earth May Have Triggered a Mass Extinction [Science Alert]

More on supernovas: Scientists Discover That Bones Are Made Out of Stars

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