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Chris Harding

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NASA’s Webb Telescope Reaches Major Milestone as Mirror Unfolds | NASA

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team fully deployed its 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror, successfully completing the final stage of all major spacecraft deployments to prepare for science operations.

A joint effort with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency, the Webb mission will explore every phase of cosmic history – from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe.

“Today, NASA achieved another engineering milestone decades in the making. While the journey is not complete, I join the Webb team in breathing a little easier and imagining the future breakthroughs bound to inspire the world,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The James Webb Space Telescope is an unprecedented mission that is on the precipice of seeing the light from the first galaxies and discovering the mysteries of our universe. Each feat already achieved and future accomplishment is a testament to the thousands of innovators who poured their life’s passion into this mission.”


Fantastic news, the images we'll get back from this telescope are going to be brilliant.
And the Webb used very little thrust to line up in orbit, meaning that it has sufficient rocket power in reserve for minor corrections, to extend well beyond its anticipated ten year life.
 

Chris Harding

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Hey @Hacky McAxe you are my go to science guy..can you tell me exactly what this means..

‘The pharmacokinetic data from cohorts one through four show a more favourable profile in humans than in rodents, including a longer half-life (detectable up to 12 hours post-dose) alongside rapid distribution in the blood. These signals are very encouraging since this means it is likely to have an even stronger effect in humans than it had in rodents, all else equal. Given the profound efficacy already seen in rodents, these early signals exceeded our expectations and are very promising for the prospect of bringing it to humans,’
@Hacky McAxe has explained it using Ockham's Razor.

A lot of people do not understand what "half life" means. If something has a half life of one year, then it will halve in effectiveness or toxicity in 12 months; it will then halve to a quarter of its life in 24 months, one eighth in 36 months, one sixteenth in 48 months. Every year the residual is halved - it doesn't just disappear in two increments, as many think. This makes the half life of things like nuclear waste, a real problem for us.
 

TwinTurbo

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@Hacky McAxe has explained it using Ockham's Razor.

A lot of people do not understand what "half life" means. If something has a half life of one year, then it will halve in effectiveness or toxicity in 12 months; it will then halve to a quarter of its life in 24 months, one eighth in 36 months, one sixteenth in 48 months. Every year the residual is halved - it doesn't just disappear in two increments, as many think. This makes the half life of things like nuclear waste, a real problem for us.
Zeno’s Paradox in action.

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Chris Harding

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Zeno’s Paradox in action.

Always a Bulldog
I think that we can argue that there is a finite limit to this because we can plot where it is going; and can determine an arbitrary time where the half life has no value of consequence.
 

TwinTurbo

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I think that we can argue that there is a finite limit to this because we can plot where it is going; and can determine an arbitrary time where the half life has no value of consequence.
That's the paradox, even if it is of no consequence it still has a value.

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The DoggFather

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Hacky McAxe

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Let's put a pedo in an airtight box and see how it goes....
The important part of his thought experiment was that it was a vial of toxic gas that only breaks if the Uranium breaks down. Emphasis on the toxic gas, because it would be a very unpleasant way to go.
 

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Scientists create a mini star to generate energy.


European scientists say they have made a major breakthrough in their quest to develop practical nuclear fusion - the energy process that powers the stars.

The UK-based JET laboratory has smashed its own world record for the amount of energy it can extract by squeezing together two forms of hydrogen.

If nuclear fusion can be successfully recreated on Earth it holds out the potential of virtually unlimited supplies of low-carbon, low-radiation energy.

The experiments produced 59 megajoules of energy over five seconds (11 megawatts of power).

This is more than double what was achieved in similar tests back in 1997.

It's not a massive energy output - only enough to boil about 60 kettles' worth of water. But the significance is that it validates design choices that have been made for an even bigger fusion reactor now being constructed in France.
 

KambahOne

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The James Webb space telescope gives us its first image.

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The James Webb Space Telescope's main mirror is fully aligned and performing even better than it had been designed to do, NASA officials revealed in a news conference held virtually on Wednesday (March 16).

The 21.3-foot-wide (6.5 meters) mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments had to travel to space folded. Aligning it into one smooth reflecting surface was one of the main tasks that the Webb control team has had to tackle since the giant telescope's launch on Dec. 25.

The alignment process, which involved fine-tuning the positions and inclinations of the 18 segments with nanometer-scale precision, has now been completed, officials said. Although that process is not yet complete, the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope mission — the most complex and most expensive such observatory ever launched — is already producing images that take the scientists' breath away.
 

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Hacky McAxe

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I found this fascinating for some reason. The world's longest running scientific experiment going on, in Brisbane of all places.


And people say that science is boring.
 

Mr 95%

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I found this fascinating for some reason. The world's longest running scientific experiment going on, in Brisbane of all places.

Seen and heard of this one before..freaky!
 

Doogie

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I found this fascinating for some reason. The world's longest running scientific experiment going on, in Brisbane of all places.

Low impact shite. I prefer my research to have real world applications.

 

Doogie

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How does one sign up for such research? Do you byo missus or are you assigned a study partner?
Randomised trial. There's a follow up paper on erectile dysfunction if you are unlucky with your random allocation.
 
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