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Hacky McAxe

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Mr 95%

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Hi guys! I posted this in the Elon Musk’s Neuralink thread, but I think it qualifies for you science buffs, as it’s about the increasing momentum towards a cure for spinal cord injury, something I’ve been monitoring for a while. Ive seen a lot come and go in my time, this is easily the most promising. If you get time check out Nergen Pharma’s technology on their website.. in particular in the pull down menu..under Our Technology then click on Introduction and watch the video..amazing. Now the technology is expected to work on chronic condition as well as acute. Interestingly Dr. Silver..the main creator of this procedure using a peptide..did a study using another method to get ventilator dependent animal models to breathe on their own again. He found chronic recovered much better and more completely, than acute, even after the the equivalent of many human years on a ventilator. They also recovered some forelimb function.


The below link to a podcast is great..we need people like these guys, people who know the hardships of a spinal cord injury, as such they have a driving passion to succeed.

https://soundcloud.com/user-612244013%2Fcurecast-episode-38-nervgen
Ps. The website also shows what their peptide can do for other diseases.

Note..On the off chance he’d reply I contacted Dr. Silver on his University email address out of the blue and he was extremely accomodating, approachable, and confident in his peptide technology in his reply to me.. The fact investors are willing to put their cash into this is testament to that. Actually I remember Dr. Wise Young, Christopher Reeve’s stem cell ‘advisor’, in 2010, said progress is slow because investors aren’t wiling to invest in technology that may not work. Well it’s certainly covered that marker as Nergen Pharma are those investors. Further to Christopher Reeve, Dr.Silver won the Christopher Reeve Medal for his advancements towards a cure for spinal injuries. The guy has a 30 year pedigree in research to find a cure and it’s finally coming to a conclusion.

The future for people with a spinal cord injury is looking very bright. Bring it on I say. I also say it’s about f$&king time!
 
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Hacky McAxe

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In the most interesting news of 2020, scientists found evidence of alien life.

The chemical Phosphine has been detected in large quantities on Venus. The only way known for this chemical to develop naturally is from microbial life.

It's still possible that it developed without life but scientists have no clue how that would happen so at this stage, it's likely that it could be life floating in the atmosphere of Venus.

 

The DoggFather

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In the most interesting news of 2020, scientists found evidence of alien life.

The chemical Phosphine has been detected in large quantities on Venus. The only way known for this chemical to develop naturally is from microbial life.

It's still possible that it developed without life but scientists have no clue how that would happen so at this stage, it's likely that it could be life floating in the atmosphere of Venus.

So men really are from Mars and women from Venus?
 

KambahOne

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In the most interesting news of 2020, scientists found evidence of alien life.

The chemical Phosphine has been detected in large quantities on Venus. The only way known for this chemical to develop naturally is from microbial life.

It's still possible that it developed without life but scientists have no clue how that would happen so at this stage, it's likely that it could be life floating in the atmosphere of Venus.

Very cool. There's something similar happening on Saturn's moon Titan where scientists believe microbes are eating Acetylene - https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/titan20100603.html
 

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For the first time, a planet has been discovered orbiting a white dwarf, also known as a dead star.
This exoplanet, a planet outside of our solar system, is the size of Jupiter and it's known as WD 1586 b.
This giant exoplanet zips around the star remnant, which is about the size of Earth, in a very close orbit every 34 hours. By comparison, Mercury is the closest planet to the sun in our solar system and takes 90 days to complete one orbit around the sun.
This dying star is located 80 light-years from Earth in the Draco constellation.

Artist illustration

Finding an intact planet in such a close orbit around a white dwarf raises questions about how it got there, and how it survived the star's evolution into a white dwarf.
The researchers believe the planet was much further away from its host star and migrated closer after the star evolved.
Their simulations suggested that when the star became a white dwarf, the planet was kicked closer in.
The study suggested a theory that large planets can survive the violent evolution of a star and arrive at a close orbit around it afterward.
 

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Scientists have unearthed evidence of a new mass extinction event more than 200 million years ago that heralded the dinosaur age.
It was likely caused by massive volcanic eruptions in what is now western Canada, where huge volumes of volcanic basalt was poured out and then formed much of the western coast of North America.
"The eruptions were so huge, they pumped vast amounts of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and there were spikes of global warming," Jacopo Dal Corso, a geologist at China University of Geosciences at Wuhan said.
The extinction event - known as the Carnian Pluvial Episode - took place 232 million to 234 million years ago and triggered major losses in biodiversity.
The research is published in the journal
Scientific Advances.

But it also may have created the environment for a variety of modern plant and animal life. including conifers, insects, dinosaurs, crocodiles, lizards, turtles and mammals.
 

Hacky McAxe

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I bring this one up in scientific discussions with people all the time when talking about climate change, and it always surprises me that people can hear the facts from this and still say that climate change isn't real.

For those who don't know the story, ExxonMobil and Shell dedicated scientific teams to studying the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. This was long before anyone knew about the effect fossil fuels were having on the climate. Both teams found that fossil fuels would cause catastrophic climate change. This was work commissioned by the fossil fuel companies which found that their product was destroying the planet. It was so strongly determined that they could even tell how much of an impact it would have and how many potential lives would be lost due to fossil fuel impacted climate change.

How did they respond to this?

They buried their research. Not only that, but they started a disinformation campaign designed to convince people that climate change isn't real. This is akin to burning yourself in a fire then campaigning to convince people that fire is cold.

And it was all recorded. The initial research, the organisation of the disinformation campaign. And it turns out that none of that is illegal. Except that in hiding this information, they convinced their investors that fossil fuels were good for the environment. And that is illegal.

 

KambahOne

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I bring this one up in scientific discussions with people all the time when talking about climate change, and it always surprises me that people can hear the facts from this and still say that climate change isn't real.

For those who don't know the story, ExxonMobil and Shell dedicated scientific teams to studying the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. This was long before anyone knew about the effect fossil fuels were having on the climate. Both teams found that fossil fuels would cause catastrophic climate change. This was work commissioned by the fossil fuel companies which found that their product was destroying the planet. It was so strongly determined that they could even tell how much of an impact it would have and how many potential lives would be lost due to fossil fuel impacted climate change.

How did they respond to this?

They buried their research. Not only that, but they started a disinformation campaign designed to convince people that climate change isn't real. This is akin to burning yourself in a fire then campaigning to convince people that fire is cold.

And it was all recorded. The initial research, the organisation of the disinformation campaign. And it turns out that none of that is illegal. Except that in hiding this information, they convinced their investors that fossil fuels were good for the environment. And that is illegal.

As the catastrophic effects of man made climate change are realised and their impact on humans determined, I wonder how many class actions will be taken out against these companies? As the article states, if the "Tobacco playbook" lives on so should the plantiffs and their ability to sue these corporations.
 

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An asteroid the size of a school bus is headed our way, but NASA says the space rock will zoom safely past Earth on Thursday.
The newly discovered asteroid will come within 13,000 miles (22,000 kilometers) of Earth, well below many of the communications satellites orbiting the planet, scientists said this week. The closest approach will occur at 9.18pm AEST over the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
 

The DoggFather

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An asteroid the size of a school bus is headed our way, but NASA says the space rock will zoom safely past Earth on Thursday.
The newly discovered asteroid will come within 13,000 miles (22,000 kilometers) of Earth, well below many of the communications satellites orbiting the planet, scientists said this week. The closest approach will occur at 9.18pm AEST over the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
Was it visable?
 

Chris Harding

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Science Stuff.

As a science enthusiast I’m fascinated in what we discover and what we are yet to learn. As such I’m going to dump interesting science stories in this thread on an ongoing basis.

I’m going to provide links where I can and explanations when I think I know, but I want peeps to correct me if I get something wrong about a story or article. Yes I want to be peer reviewed!! And if there is a science topic that peaks your interest, put it in here and I’ll grab some info on it to discuss. So load up your pocket protectors and straighten your bow ties, it’s time to get all Sciencey.

To start off with we’ll look at something close by and familiar to each of us, our Sun.

Fun Sun Facts:

We use our Sun as a unit of measure = 1 AU (Astronomical Unit) is the distance from the Sun to Earth. Saturn is an average of 9.6 AU from the Sun. Old Pluto’s average distance from the sun is 39.5 AU.

Our Sun sings and breathes - https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/sounds-of-the-sun

Our Sun Farts - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/2288/the-solar-wind-across-our-solar-system/

Our Sun is currently converting 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second - https://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2007/locations/ttt_solarenergy.php

Now that sounds like a lot, but when you think our Sun is only halfway through its lifecycle and has approximately 4 billion years of fuel left to burn, than you start to understand how big it is. If you want a visual of how big compared to Earth, check out the pic below.

View attachment 12609

The material of the Sun is so compressed and so dense, it takes a particle of light 3 million years to get from the core where it’s created to the surface of the Sun itself and then only 8 mins to reach Earth.

And yes our Sun does have a name, Sol. This name originates from the ancient Roman’s god of the Sun, Sol. This alternate name is where we get the term “solar system,” which literally means system of the Sun.

Inevitably our Sun will die and use up all its hydrogen fuel. When that happens it will grow into a Red Giant and consume Mercury, Venus and Earth as its outer layers expand to the reach and melt Mars. That will be the end of all the inner rocky planets of our Solar System and the outer gas giants will be stripped of their upper clouds and reduced to roughly 10-30% of their current size due to the increase in the power of the solar winds (farts). And when that expansion part of our Sun’s lifecycle is compete and it shrinks back to become a White Dwarf Star, our Solar System will be unrecognisable. Our Sun will then spend the rest of its 100billion year existence faintly flickering as part of the ocean of White Dwarfs that currently inhabit our Galaxy.
Thanks for that. Our sun is cooler on its surface than the atmosphere above it. Scientists are still working out why that is. It is too small to become a black hole at the end of its days, yet is larger than the bulk of the stars in our universe which are Red Dwarfs (loved that show).

Here's something you might be interested in - the closest planet to earth is Mercury. I know, it doesn't make sense - but if you look at the paths of the planets, we are often a long way from Mars and Venus when they are at their extremes, while Mercury just runs a close circle around the sun - so on average we are always nearer to Mercury.
 

Chris Harding

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My pet passion, apart from trains, is Paleontology.
Once did an hour long show on 2GB, talking about the great discoveries and famous paleontologists of their day.
I'm a member of the Australian Museum and Age of Dinosaurs in Winton.

Next May, I'm hosting a tour of the dinosaur sites in western Qld for Railway Adventures - if the Covid restrictions are lifted by then.
 

Hacky McAxe

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My pet passion, apart from trains, is Paleontology.
Once did an hour long show on 2GB, talking about the great discoveries and famous paleontologists of their day.
I'm a member of the Australian Museum and Age of Dinosaurs in Winton.

Next May, I'm hosting a tour of the dinosaur sites in western Qld for Railway Adventures - if the Covid restrictions are lifted by then.
My father worked for the Australian Museum for most of his life. Great Museum. I told the Mrs that I'm going to drag her there when it re-opens with the new Tutankhamun exhibit.

I find Paleontology to be really interesting. Especially when it comes to human ancestors and the side species like the Denisovan and the Hobbits. It's something that would be great to study.
 
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