To the Stars with Data: March 13 2022
To the Stars with Data: March 13 2022
Watching memories form, preparing to visit the ocean world Europa, beautiful-yet horrifying-maps of imperiled biodiversity, and more
Hello Datanauts!
It’s almost spring in the northern hemisphere, which means it’s time for spring cleaning! I’m planning to rebrand To the Stars with Data and would love your thoughts. Could you please complete this 3-5 minute survey and let me know what you think of my rebrand ideas?
Now, let’s go to the stars with data!
Thought-Provoking Data Viz
⚠ Where biodiversity is most at risk in America (here’s the scientific paper)
Quick note: this research was published in mid-2021. I try to share recent visualizations, but this was too informative not to share!
Quick hits. The most detailed map produced to date shows where species in the United States are most at risk of extinction. Importantly, the map takes into account species that typically aren’t considered in such maps, such as insects, fish, and plants. Areas of the highest concentration of imperiled biodiversity include California, the South, and rivers and streams across the US. The scientists behind this research assisted in producing additional maps that visualize imperiled species by type of animal and environment.
Digging deeper. At the moment, only about 13% of the US is “permanently protected and primarily managed for biodiversity conservation”, but the Biden administration plans to expand this to 30% by 2030 (AKA the 30x30 initiative, which involves 85+ countries). Unfortunately, hundreds of imperiled species live outside the current 13% of the protected areas, so this is an incredibly important initiative, especially as the impacts of climate change strengthen.
Earth News
🧠 Scientists watch memory form in a living brain (here’s the scientific paper)
Quick hits. In a study published in January of 2022, researchers were able to see memories forming in real-time in zebrafish larvae. To witness this, the researchers genetically modified zebrafish so their neuronal synapses—the part of a neuron that passes signals to other neurons—produced fluorescent light when illuminated with a dim laser of a custom microscope. Considering that zebrafish larvae are transparent, they were able to thus see memories form in real-time! The researchers found evidence for the pruning and replanting of neuronal connections being very important in fearful memory formation.
Digging deeper. The researchers studied memories tied to emotion (fear, in this case) because emotion-associated memories develop more quickly and remain stable over a long period of time. Putting this into perspective, I’m sure it’s easy for you to recall a time when you had a traumatic experience but it’s difficult to remember what you had for dinner on Wednesday. Unfortunately, emotional memories have been difficult to study in mammals because the portion of our brains most involved with emotional responses, the amygdala, is located near the center of our brains. This is what makes zebrafish larvae such fantastic subjects for the study: their pallium, the portion of their brain tied to emotion, is located on the outside of their brain.
Other Earth news
🥤 The UN agreed to start negotiating a global, legally-enforceable treaty to tackle plastic pollution. I’m sure you don’t need to be told that plastic pollution is a serious issue. (There’s even a thorough Wikipedia article on the topic!) The UN plan will be established by the end of 2024 and, importantly, consider the entire life cycle of plastics.
🩺 The first pig-to-human heart transplant recipient dies. The hospital noted there was no immediately-obvious cause of death. Though the recipient died 2 months after receiving the transplant, this is still considered a major step forward for xenotransplantation because several key milestones were passed. Namely, the heart wasn’t immediately rejected and continued to function for around 2 months.
🐷 Researchers develop AI that classifies emotions from pig sounds. (Here’s the scientific paper) Impressively, the data only consisted of 7,414 pig calls from just 411 pigs, but the model was still able to achieve a 92% success rate. With more data, the researchers think their model can become even more accurate.
Space News
🛰 NASA begins assembly of the Europa Clipper
Quick hits. NASA scientists have begun constructing the Europa Clipper spacecraft, an SUV-sized spacecraft that will launch in October 2024 and visit Europa, Jupiter’s large icy moon. The spacecraft’s mission is to inform us of the habitability of Europa, though it’s not expected to detect life. It will carry a number of fancy scientific instruments to accomplish this goal, including an ultraviolet spectrograph (which will be used to the composition of the moon’s surface and gases in the atmosphere), magnetometer (which will confirm that Europa does indeed have a subsurface ocean and measure Europa’s ionized atmosphere), and more. For you curious minds out there, a full list of its instruments is listed on Europa’s website.
Digging deeper. Europa is fascinating for a number of reasons (note: this is a grand understatement). Most importantly, scientists are almost certain there’s a planet-wide subsurface ocean. Such a subsurface ocean could potentially house life because the thick ice blocks the sun’s radiation, we’ve found evidence of life-supporting molecules in the plumes shooting from Europa’s crust, and there’s plenty of energy if there are hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. Here’s a brief overview of the possibility of life on Europa from NASA.
Other space news
🌒 NASA studies 50-year old unopened lunar samples to prep for return to the moon. With some foresight, NASA left some samples from the Apollo missions unopened so that future technology could observe the samples better than technology that existed at the time. This is a good thing, too, as the technology we now have could have been considered science fiction 50 years ago.
🌌 Researchers find complex organic molecules in a planetary-forming disc. (Here’s the scientific paper) The molecule, dimethyl ether, has been found elsewhere, but never in a planetary-forming disc. It doesn’t lead to life on its own but is part of even larger molecules that can lead to life. The researchers also made a tentative detection of methyl formate, which forms even larger organic molecules.
🏭 SpaceForge will test the return capability of its ForgeStar satellite this summer in the first-ever satellite launch from the UK. SpaceForge is a company aimed at establishing space manufacturing infrastructure (SO COOL! 😱). The launch will take place from Spaceport Cornwall, located in Newquay, Cornwall.
Future-Thinking Companies
⚡ Fortescue Future Industries
Based in Australia, Fortescue Future Industries aims to bring green hydrogen to the industrial scene. Earlier this month, they acquired Williams Advanced Engineering and now plan to build an “Infinity train”, which they claim is zero-emissions because it recharges itself via gravity while moving downhill.
For those unaware, here’s a brief overview of “green hydrogen”.
🌱 Living Carbon
Based in San Francisco, Living Carbon genetically engineers plants to absorb and sequester more carbon due to advances in photosynthesis. They raised $15m in Feb 2022. Here’s a fascinating blog post about their process and results.