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Category: evolution – Page 13

Consciousness is quantum mechanical

Consciousness is one of the most fundamental aspects of our existence, but it remains barely understood, even defined. Across the world scholars of many disciplines — philosophy, science, social science, theology — are joined on a quest to understand this phenomenon.

Tune into one of the more original and controversial thinkers at the forefront of consciousness research, Stuart Hameroff, as he presents his ideas. Hameroff is an anaesthesiologist who, alongside Roger Penrose, proposes that the source of consciousness is structural, produced from a certain shape in our brain. He expands on this, and much more (such as evolution), in this talk. Have a listen!

To witness such topics discussed live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/

Scientists think they discovered what existed before the Big Bang

In the 1930s, researchers first noticed oddities in how galaxies moved, suggesting something invisible exerted gravitational pull. Decades later, studies of the cosmic microwave background —the lingering radiation from the universe’s birth—confirmed dark matter’s importance in shaping cosmic evolution.

A pivotal study by the Planck Collaboration in 2018 revealed that dark matter makes up roughly 27% of the universe’s total energy. By comparison, ordinary matter—the stuff of planets, stars, and us—accounts for only 5%.

Scientists have spent decades trying to understand what dark matter might be. Supersymmetry, a popular theory in particle physics, proposes a “partner” particle for every known particle, potentially offering clues about dark matter’s identity.

Scientists Just Found the Secret Difference Between Human and Primate Brains

Researchers discovered uniquely human neuroanatomical features in a study comparing human brains to macaque and chimpanzee brains.

A groundbreaking study reveals that what makes humans unique isn’t just intelligence but also emotional and social cognition. Comparing brain scans of humans, chimpanzees, and macaques, researchers found that key brain connections related to emotions and social interactions are distinctly human, highlighting the deep-rooted role of relationships in human evolution.

What makes the human brain unique?

Cosmic anomaly hints at frightening future for Milky Way

A terrifying glimpse at one potential fate of our Milky Way galaxy has come to light thanks to the discovery of a cosmic anomaly that challenges our understanding of the universe.

An international team of astronomers led by CHRIST University, Bangalore, found that a massive spiral galaxy almost 1 billion light-years away from Earth harbors a supermassive black hole billions of times the sun’s mass which is powering colossal radio jets stretching 6 million light-years across.

That is one of the largest known for any spiral galaxy and upends conventional wisdom of galaxy evolution, because such powerful jets are almost exclusively found in , not spirals.

DESI releases largest 3D map of the universe to date

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is mapping millions of celestial objects to better understand dark energy—the mysterious driver of our universe’s accelerating expansion. Today, the DESI collaboration released a new collection of data for anyone in the world to investigate.

The dataset is the largest of its kind, with information on 18.7 million objects: roughly 4 million stars, 13.1 million galaxies, and 1.6 million quasars (extremely bright but distant objects powered by supermassive black holes at their cores).

While the experiment’s main mission is illuminating , DESI’s Data Release 1 (DR1) could yield discoveries in other areas of astrophysics, such as the evolution of galaxies and black holes, the nature of dark matter, and the structure of the Milky Way.

NASA’s Next Mission Could Finally Solve the Mystery of Our Solar System’s Edge

The heliosphere, a cosmic bubble formed by the Sun, protects our solar system from interstellar threats and influences life’s evolution. Despite its vital role, its true shape remains a puzzle, with data from Voyager missions hinting at its complexities. Upcoming interstellar probes aim to uncover more about this mysterious region.

The Sun does more than just warm the Earth, making it habitable for people and animals. It also shapes a vast region of space. This region, known as the heliosphere, extends more than a hundred times the distance between the Sun and Earth, influencing everything within it.

As a star, the Sun constantly emits a flow of charged particles called the solar wind, a stream of energized plasma.

Two Exoplanet Systems Have Elevated Levels of Carbon Dioxide

“Our hope with this kind of research is to understand our own solar system, life, and ourselves in comparison to other exoplanetary systems, so we can contextualize our existence,” said William Balmer.

What can carbon dioxide in an exoplanet’s atmosphere teach us about its formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal hopes to address as an international team of researchers made the first direct images of carbon dioxide in the atmospheres of two exoplanetary systems. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of exoplanet atmospheres and how this could lead to finding life as we know it, or even as we don’t know it.

For the study, the researchers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to analyze the atmospheres of exoplanets residing in the systems HR 8799 and 51 Eridani (51 Eri) with the direct imaging method. The HR 8,799 system is located approximately 135 light-years from Earth and hosts four known exoplanets whose masses range from five to nine times of Jupiter, and the 51 Eridani system is located approximately 97 light-years from Earth and hosts one known exoplanet whose mass is approximately four times of Jupiter. Both systems are very young compared to our solar system at approximately 4.6 billion years old, with HR 8,799 and 51 Eridani being approximately 30 million and 23 million years old, respectively.

New Study Provides Origins of Asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson

“We can hardly wait for the flyby because, as of now, Donaldjohanson’s characteristics appear very distinct from Bennu and Ryugu. Yet, we may uncover unexpected connections,” said Dr. Simone Marchi.

How old is asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson (DJ), which is about to be studied by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft in an upcoming flyby on April 20, 2025? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as an international team of researchers conducted a pre-flyby analysis of DJ with the goal of ascertaining the asteroid’s potential age. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of asteroids throughout the solar system, and specifically the main asteroid belt, which is where DJ orbits.

For the study, the researchers used ground-based telescopes and instruments to analyze the size, shape, and composition of DJ with the goal of ascertaining its relative age. For context, relative age indicates an object’s approximate age based on observational and data analysis, which contrasts an object’s absolute age that is determined from laboratory analysis with samples. Lucy will only be conducting a flyby and will not be returning samples to Earth.

In the end, the researchers not only discovered that DJ has elongated shape with estimates putting its approximate age at 150 million years old and formed when a larger asteroid broke apart. This upcoming flyby comes after the Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REX missions visited asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, respectively, with DJ hypothesized to orbit in the approximate regions where both Ryugu and Bennu formed.