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Thursday, July 11th, 2024
Good Morning! 🌞
Did you know that hot water freezes faster than cold water?
Known as the Mpemba effect, hot water can freeze more quickly than cold water. The exact reasons are still debated, but evaporation, convection, and supercooling may play roles.
This effect is illustrated when throwing boiling hot water into freezing cold air. It turns to snow, whereas cold water doesn’t.
Today’s Upside
Earth Sciences
Mysterious Parallel Jets of Light
(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (NASA-JPL), Joel Green (STScI))
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have observed a new stellar phenomenon: a group of baby stars emitting high-speed gas jets in the same direction.
This discovery provides the first direct image of protostellar outflows—huge jets of gas from newborn stars that interact with surrounding molecular gas clouds. However, it also introduces a puzzle: Why are these jets aligned, despite coming from widely separated stars? The observations, detailed in a study in the Astrophysical Journal, could offer new insights into star formation and evolution.
"Astronomers have long assumed that as clouds collapse to form stars, the stars will tend to spin in the same direction," principal investigator Klaus Pontoppidan of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said. "However, this has not been seen so directly before. These aligned structures are a historical record of how stars are born."
The newly imaged stars are in the Serpens Main nebula, a star-forming gas cloud in the Serpens constellation, about 1,300 light-years from Earth. Using JWST's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), astronomers noted the ionized gas trails in the star-forming cloud.
They identified at least 20 newborn stars actively emitting protostellar outflows. A group of 12 stars (seen in the upper left of the JWST image) drew attention because their jets were oriented almost identically, "like sleet pouring down during a storm," according to NASA. These outflows began between 200 and 1,400 years ago.
Such alignment is unlikely to be random. Researchers suggest these stars formed around the same time along a dense gas filament, with a powerful magnetic field influencing the jet directions. Over time, interactions with other objects could alter the spin axes of individual stars, explaining why such alignments are rarely seen.
Further study of these coordinated outflows could provide new details about star formation. Researchers plan to use JWST's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to study the chemical composition of the Serpens Main nebula, which could reveal how elements transfer from stars to young planets.
Culture
Art Found in Bus Might Sell for $32 Million
"The Rest on the Flight into Egypt" by Titian Christie’s Images Ltd
A painting by Italian Renaissance master Titian, once found in a plastic bag at a London bus stop after being stolen twice, is expected to sell for up to $32 million at auction.
“The Rest on the Flight into Egypt” will be auctioned at Christie’s with an estimate of £15 million-£25 million ($19 million-$32 million), according to the auction house.
The painting, created in the early 16th century, depicts Jesus, Mary, and Joseph resting on their way to Egypt after learning that King Herod of Judea wanted to kill the young Christ.
Titian, whose real name was Tiziano Vecellio, made the small painting (18.25 inches by 24.75 inches) early in his career, before he became known for his larger works.
The oil-on-canvas has a notable history. After passing through various European aristocrats, it was looted by Napoleonic troops in 1809 and taken to Paris. It was returned to Vienna in 1815 and later owned by John Alexander Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath, in Wiltshire, England.
In 1995, the painting was stolen from Longleat, the home of Thynne’s descendants, and was missing for seven years before being found at a London bus stop by art detective Charles Hill.
“This painting has been coveted by aristocrats, archdukes, and emperors for its vividly colored scene of familial affection,” Christie’s said in a statement. “Like its subjects, 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' has been on a long and eventful journey — a journey that’s far from over.”
Environment
Rewilding Returns Endangered Species
The Sussex coast, credit Tim Broadbent, unsplash
A coalition of natural trusts, farmers, businessmen, and conservationists aims to transform the southern English coastline and surrounding lands into a biodiversity hotspot. Their efforts are evident in the increasing numbers of aquatic species returning to the Sussex coast. This initiative follows two significant changes for English nature—one on land and one at sea.
In 2022, a long-campaigned-for ban on trawling in Sussex Bay was implemented, ending decades of harmful fishing practices that destroyed mussel beds, oyster reefs, kelp forests, and other critical marine environments.
On land, two landowners began reversing the damage of industrial agriculture on the Knepp estate. Despite initial skepticism from neighboring farmers, the Knepp rewilding project has become a leading example of restoring pre-agricultural wild England.
Now, farmers across Sussex are working to create conditions and corridors that allow the biodiversity of the 3,500-acre Knepp estate to spread. The project, called Weald to Waves, aims to establish 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of nature-friendly land from the South Downs to the sea.
James Baird, the project's founder, owns the last undeveloped coastline in Sussex. Partnering with the Knepp Estate, he plans to connect natural environments from the manor lands to the ocean.
Weald to Waves also focuses on reducing farming practices that cause agricultural runoff, improving coastal water quality. The Sussex Bay initiative is already seeing positive results. Divers and marine biologists report a resurgence of marine life, with sightings of cuttlefish bones, kelp, whelk eggs, mussel beds, electric rays, angel sharks, and bream.
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Gratitude Linked to Lower Risk of Death
A new study on the effects of gratitude on mortality risk found that grateful people have lower rates of early death, even when accounting for cardiovascular health, smoking, and chronic disease. This research, which involved over 49,000 older women in the nursing profession, is one of the first to explore gratitude's impact on mortality.
Gratitude has been linked to better cholesterol levels, immune function, inflammation, cardiovascular health, lower depression risk, and adherence to healthy habits like exercise and sleep. Despite this, little is known about its effects on mortality. Participants' gratitude was measured using the 6-item ‘Gratitude Questionnaire,’ which includes questions like “if I had to list everything I’m thankful for, it would be a long list” and “I have so much in life to be thankful for.”
The study, led by Ying Chen, found that women with higher gratitude scores tended to be younger, married, and active in social and religious groups. The average age of respondents was 79, and by the end of 2019, 4,068 had died. Higher gratitude scores were linked to a 29% reduced risk of death overall. Even after controlling for heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and lifestyle habits like smoking and diet, gratitude was associated with a 21-27% reduced risk of death.
Benjamin Levine, MD, suggests that exercise should be considered essential personal hygiene, like brushing teeth. This study indicates that making time to feel grateful should be treated similarly. Keeping a gratitude journal, praying, or sharing what you're grateful for with family can help cultivate gratitude.
Mind Stretchers
⁉️
What goes up and down but cannot move?
Yesterday’s Answers to the Mind Stretchers:
You can find it in Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, but not in Venus or Neptune. What is it? : The letter “r”
Gerry Moore got the correct answer first!
Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected] or reply to email.
From the Community
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