Exoplanets: Weird, Wondrous Worlds [Video]

There’s a huge amount of variety among exoplanets – planets outside our solar system. There are water worlds, lava planets, egg-shaped worlds, planets with multiple suns, and even planets with no sun at all! What can we learn from all this weird, wondrous variety? What does it tell us about both the exoplanets themselves and our own home planet?

Video transcript:

[Narrator] Earth is awesome.

What would be even more awesome, if we found another earth, or a bunch of earths.

That’s one of the things we’re looking for at NASA as we study exoplanets, planets outside our solar system.

But maybe searching for a planet similar to our own, where conditions might have led to an entirely unique origin of life, finally telling us that we’re not alone in the universe, maybe that’s not your thing.

That’s cool.

Maybe you’re more interested in just how weird exoplanets can be.

We think there are entire worlds covered by deep oceans, water worlds.

Not weird enough for you?

Okay. How about planets covered entirely in oceans of lava?

There are egg-shaped planets, worlds that orbit so close to their stars that they’re pulled by gravity into a lopsided shape.

And there are planets where conditions might be just right for it to rain things like glass, or even rubies and sapphires.

There are planets that orbit pairs and even groups of stars. Imagine having three or four suns in the sky!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the loners, rogue planets wandering out in space with no star to call their own.

There are even planets that orbit dead stars, stars that exploded long ago and left behind a rapidly spinning core called a pulsar. Some of these pulsar planets could be among the oldest in our galaxy, pushing 13 billion years.

Such planets would have witnessed most of the history of the universe. Sadly, nearly all of it without tacos.

Now, we think that we haven’t found one yet, that there probably are exoplanets pretty similar to earth out there.

But in the meantime, there are absolutely tons of weird, wondrous worlds in our galaxy.

(jaunty music)

Past lives: should we look at it from religion, science, or both?

Past lives is a question that sounds mystical. Have we ever lived before? My dear grandmother has always told me that there is no evidence that we have lived before. 

I asked him if there was any evidence that no previous life existed. Of course not. At least 19% of humanity, or 1.4 billion people, according to a report, believe in reincarnation.

Have we lived before? Are past lives real?

More than 18,000 people in 23 countries participated in the survey conducted by the Global Research Society and the Institute for Social Research (Ipsos).

The survey also found that 7% of the people believe in reincarnation, while 23 percent believe that we only will “cease to exist”. About a quarter (26 percent) said they do not know what will happen after death.

Bobby Duffy, managing director of Ipsos, told Reuters (as reported in ReincarnationandDeath website) that “it may seem to many that we live in a secular world, but this study shows that spiritual life is important to the citizens of the world since half of them said they believed in a supreme being”.

“Also a large proportion of the remaining population is sure that there is a spiritual explanation to either how we got here or what happens after death.”

According to the survey, “definitive belief in a God or a Supreme Being” is highest in Indonesia (93 percent) and Turkey (91 percent), followed by Brazil (84 percent), South Africa (83 percent) and Mexico (78 percent).

Those most likely to believe in “many Gods or Supreme Beings” are in India (24 percent), China (14 percent) and Russia (10 percent). People who do not believe in God or a Supreme Being are most likely to live in France (39 percent), Sweden (37 percent), Belgium (36 percent), Britain (34 percent), Japan (33 percent) and Germany (31 percent).

So… do you actually think they are not real?

This is a fascinating question. Let’s walk around it a bit. Have you ever met people you didn’t know before but still know? Have you been particularly attracted or repelled by a city or place? Why is it that young children, who are supposed to have no experience of a certain thing, are always afraid of it? Many questions of this kind could be asked.

Those who believe in past lives have the answer: ‘these things come from past life experiences’.

But those who believe they don’t exist can answer just as strongly. DNA is often referred to as inheriting different traits from our parents. But what if you have skills and knowledge that no one else in your family has? How can DNA pass on knowledge or experience? I have seen very smart parents with children who had learning difficulties.

I have also experienced where in a poor family, where both parents and siblings had below-average knowledge, one of their children was still among the best learners.

He had his own difficulties because of his family background, but he was a very bright and clever boy and despite all the difficulties he came out at the top.

Of course, there are arguments for and against. But there is a lot of randomness about it. And this makes me doubt the materialistic explanations. We have all experienced feelings of being very attracted to something or very afraid of something. They all come from past life experiences.

Newer understandings and approaches

You may have read here and there about this or the other religion and how they deal with past lives. But how about newer religions? What does Scientology for example say about past lives?

Scientology, which was developed by L. Ron Hubbard, says we don’t live only once. We have lived before, and after death we are born again into another family. This is usually called reincarnation. Today’s general definition of reincarnation is “being reborn into different life forms”.

Its original meaning is slightly different. Originally it meant “to be born again into the flesh or into another body“. The Scientology faith is close to the latter. In Scientology, belief in past lives is not a dogma that everyone must believe. But in spiritual counseling (which they call auditing), past lives can be experienced.

According to accounts from Scientologists, auditing helps them to uncover and deal with painful memories and regain their abilities. The purpose is not to explore past lives, but to release people’s fears, bad feelings, weaknesses and restore their abilities, sometimes taking them to past lives, but not necessarily. In Scientology, they do not talk about past lives found during spiritual counseling because deal with it as “a very personal matter“. But many people state that they have experienced them, and that it has helped them get rid of their fears.

Scientologist, believe that the real roots of the problems of people did not begin in this life, but have been brought with us from the past, which is why it is necessary to examine our past lives. The idea of past lives is not unique to Scientology. Many other sciences and religions also say to recognize the existence of past lives. Spiritual counseling, or auditing (from the Latin audire, meaning “to listen or hear”), in Scientology is not the same or similar to procedures found in other sciences or religions. For example, unlike hypnosis, during auditing the parishioners are conscious all the time and can control events themselves with the help of a trained minister, called an auditor and because of that, unlike some other mental/spiritual practices, Scientology’s “auditing” is completely safe and easy for anyone to do.

[1] Reincarnation after death ?: How Many People In The World Believe In Reincarnation?

New Insights Into How Central Supermassive Black Holes Influence the Evolution of Their Host Galaxy

Emirati national Aisha Al Yazeedi, a research scientist at the NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics, has published her first research paper, featuring some key findings on the evolution of galaxies.

Galaxies eventually undergo a phase in which they lose most of their gas, which results in a change into their properties over the course of their evolution. Current models for galaxy evolution suggest this should eventually happen to all galaxies, including our own Milky Way; Al Yazeedi and her team are delving into this process.

Composite RGB image of the Blob Source extracted from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys (Dey et al.(2019), legacysurvey.org). MaNGA _eld of view is shown in orange. Gray box corresponds to the GMOS _eld of view. Credit: Dey et al.(2019), legacysurvey.org

Commenting on the findings, Al Yazeedi said: “The evolution of galaxies is directly linked to the activity of their central supermassive black hole (SMBH). However, the connection between the activity of SMBHs and the ejection of gas from the entire galaxy is poorly understood. Observational studies, including our research, are essential to clarify how the central SMBH can influence the evolution of its entire host galaxy and prove key theoretical concepts in the field of astrophysics.”

Titled “The impact of low luminosity AGN on their host galaxies: A radio and optical investigation of the kpc-scale outflow in MaNGA 1-166919,” the paper has been published in Astronomical Journal. Its findings outline gas ejection mechanisms, outflow properties, and how they are related to the activity of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of the host galaxy.

To that end, the paper presents a detailed optical and radio study of the MaNGA 1-166919 galaxy, which appears to have an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). Radio morphology shows two lobes (jets) emanating from the center of the galaxy, a clear sign of AGN activity that could be driving the optical outflow. By measuring the outflow properties, the NYUAD researchers documented how the extent of the optical outflow matches the extent of radio emission.

Superposition of optical z-band MzLS image isophotes (gray color) and our highest spatial resolution radio image in S band (in blue). Optical image has a spatial resolution of 0:0084, while S-band radio data { 0:009. Credit: NYU Abu Dhabi

Al Yazeedi is a member of NYUAD’s Kawader program, a national capacity-building research fellowship that allows outstanding graduates to gain experience in cutting-edge academic research. The three-year, individually tailored, intensive program is designed for graduates considering a graduate degree or a career in research.

Her paper adds to the growing body of UAE space research and activities. The UAE has sent an Emirati into space, a spacecraft around Mars, and recently announced plans to send a robotic rover to the Moon in 2022, ahead of the ultimate goal to build a city on Mars by 2117.

The above figure is a GMOS outflow map with radio contours overlaid in black. The outflow velocities show a clear spatial separation of “red” and “blue” components. It strongly suggests a biconical outflow and nicely shows the correspondence between the optical outflow and radio emission. Credit: NYU Abu Dhabi

Emirati women are playing a key role in the research and development behind these projects. The Mars Hope probe science team, which is 80 percent female, was led by Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and chairperson of the country’s space agency.

Reference: “The impact of low luminosity AGN on their host galaxies: A radio and optical investigation of the kpc-scale outflow in MaNGA 1-166919” 3 August 2021, Astronomical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abf5e1

Hackers attack 70 times per minute

Hackers attack 70 times per minute: what happens when a computer is left unsecured on the internet

Every device connected to the internet has a unique IP address. Those IP addresses are public, and they allow computers to find and communicate with each other via the Internet Protocol. Normally, we want to allow legitimate parties to connect to our IP addresses, and keep out adversaries by using firewalls, authentication, and access control.

But what if we didn’t take any of those precautions? How long would it take for malicious hackers to find and attack your device? What methods would they use? What do they seek? And where do they come from?

Comparitech researchers sought to find the answers to these questions by setting up honeypots—dummy computers designed to lure in attackers so we can record their every step.

Researchers set up honeypot devices emulating a range of internet-accessible services and supporting a wide range of protocols including RDP, SSH, MySQL, VNC, and more. The honeypots were left unsecured so that no authentication was required to access and attack it. Using this method, Comparitech researchers sought to find out which types of attacks would occur, at what frequency, and where they come from.

In total, our researchers found 101,545 attacks in a 24-hour period, or 70 attacks per minute. To give you some idea of how much attacks have increased, a 2007 University of Maryland study recorded a mere 2,244 attacks per day, a fraction of what we recorded in 2021. Read more on the FULL STUDY– Comparitech Study

About Comparitech: A pro-consumer website providing information, tools, and comparisons to help consumers in the US, UK and further afield to research and compare tech services. Founded in 2015, it is now a remote team of 30 researchers, writers, developers, and editors covering a wide range of online services including VPNs, password managers, ID theft protection, antivirus, internet providers, network monitoring. Each month, over 1 million people visit Comparitech.com and trust them to help them make more savvy decisions. Collectively they have produced over 1,200 reviews and guides. They conduct a battery of tests on all products and services they review, such as the 200+ automated speed tests that they perform daily on a wide range of VPNs.