On the rise
A small, accelerated stream of ice in the interior of Greenland could rise nearly 16 millimeters to global sea level by 2100, more than six times as much as previously thought; Nick Ogasa reported in “Greenland is the blood of blood” (SN: 12/17/22 & 12/31/22, p. 7).
Reader Leslie Hruby He wondered how the local sea level would be affected as the ice sheet melts and the land beneath collapses.
“The immense weight of the ice can depress the crust of the Earth, like a heavy object placed on a soft mattress.” Ogasa he says When the ice recedes, the laden earth rises again. What’s more, as the ice loses mass, its gravitational pull on the nearby ocean also decreases. With the retreat of the polar ice caps, these changes may combine to lower local sea level but raise sea level further. “Projections indicate that sea level rise will be most severe in coastal areas away from polar regions, such as Southeast and Southeast Asia.” Ogasa he says “These regions are home to large, low-income populations that bear the least responsibility for climate change, but against the worst.”
Ethical observation in mind
In the lab, brain implants can translate internal speech into external signals, a technology that can help people who can speak or type; Laura Sanders reported in “brain implants ‘read’ thoughts” (SN: 12/17/22 & 12/31/22, p. 8).
Reader J Morley He’s happy about the power of technology to help people someday, but he’s worried about what it means for privacy.
Morley common interest moves. In 2020, Science News They asked readers about their opinion on brain technology that can read – and possibly influence – brain activity. Concern about privacy rose to the top of the list (SN: 2/13/21, p. 24).
Sanders It says a lot about the scientists who spoke in his report that he emphasized the flip side. “They feel a moral imperative to advance research so that they can help people by restoring the ability to communicate, for example, or by alleviating the symptoms of an active mental illness,” he says. “It is a complex area that defies simple black and white thinking; This is a place for many different perspectives and priorities.
Just wondering
Science News Readers often ask questions that are related to our journal but are nevertheless interesting. Let us indulge in our impulse to try to answer those questions.
Reader Stephen Ostrom asked if the James Webb Space Telescope should be pointed in a certain direction to look for the first generation of stars after the Big Bang.
“As the first star detection, JWST needs a clear view beyond our galaxy, so it should not be located in the center of the Milky Way or in some impenetrable wall of dust in our galaxy,” says the editor of the news partner Christopher Crockettwho has Sen. in astrology “But the direction itself doesn’t matter.”
This is because the Big Bang happened everywhere at the same time; Crockett he says “It’s less of a place in space and more of a thing than printed everywhere if we look far enough.”
Think of it this way: About 13 billion years ago, the first generation of stars came to life around the earth’s current location in space. Back then, if one stood where we are now, new stars could be seen forming in every direction. Fasting for the present, and there is a kind of the same reason; Crockett he says Look in the same direction as JWST, and you’ll see a bunch of early-generation stars that were once close to Earth’s current location. Turn the telescope around, and you should see another batch of first genes.
Nor therefore were the first stars born at the same moment everywhere; Crockett he says The first stars were born over millions of years due to local variations in factors such as the density and temperature of hydrogen clouds. It was an “epoch when the conditions throughout the world were finally right for hydrogen clouds to collapse and ignite the first fusion.”
Send your science questions to feedback@scientianews.org.
#Readers #questions #sea #level #rise #worlds #stars
