STEM Saturday on the Steem blockchain, Week #51: Learning about early and modern humans and our impact on the planet; advances in space technologies; and underwater robotics

STEM Saturday Digest - May 13, 2023

We have a new author and a wide array of topics in this week's STEM Saturday promotion. These include engineering, robotics, environmental science, space exploration, and biology!

Please visit the /promoted page to view this week's STEM Saturday post promotions.

This was the 51^st week of our post promotions for STEM Saturday on the Steem blockchain, and our little community now occupies the top of the /promoted page for the 51^st consecutive Saturday. This week, I promoted six Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) posts by four authors.

If you are a STEM enthusiast, please consider following the authors that you'll find in this article and also consider joining our community. If you would like your own post to be considered for STEM Saturday post promotion, please see the guidelines at the end of this post.

This week's promotions included the following posts (in alphabetical order, by author). Each author has been set as a 5% beneficiary on this post. All posts were passed through three different online plagiarism checks and three different checks for AI detection.

By using a pendant made from an elk's tooth, researchers were able to extract DNA of a woman who lived about 20,000 years ago, in the region of the Denisova Cave in southern Siberia, Russia. The achievement was made through the use of new chemical processing techniques that were developed in France. However, the team discovered that 98% of the DNA they were finding came from previous archaeological researchers who had handled the artefacts. The Denisova Cave find let them try their technique on an uncontaminated artefact that was never handled by anyone in modern times (without the use of gloves and masks).

Geological processes that have operated throughout time to create rocks have now combined to form a new type of material by adding plastics to their list of ingredients. This has been known for some time, but the most remote observation of the phenomenon was recently reported from the Turtle Beach Reserve on Trinidade Island, about 680 miles off the coast of Brazil. Although the island is remote, this find has local implications, with regards to waste disposal. Although many people spend a great deal of time and effort sorting their waste, in hopes that it will be properly recycled, that doesn't always happen. Also, there are so many people that even large scale use of biodegradable products can be harmful to the planet's ecosystems. This article argues for people to be conscious of our environmental impact, use natural solutions where it makes sense, and to make decisions that will minimize our waste production whenever possible.

In a recent study, scientists & researchers from 18 countries performed regression analysis on MRI scans of the brains of about 8,000 men and women from 29 countries. The results were analyzed based on gender equality metrics for their home countries. It was found that the level of gender equality in a country is significantly associated with the thickness of the right hemisphere of the women's brains. This correlation persisted, regardless of the country's per-capita gross domestic product (GDP). In conclusion, the article notes, "The results obtained point to the potential danger of the macrosocial environment for the biology of the female brain."

A secretive Chinese reusable space plane recently completed its second mission, which lasted for 276 days and finished on May 8. The vehicle is believed to be a counterpart to the US/Boeing X-37B. During its mission, the vehicle released another object, designated as Object J and subsequently moved away from the object several times, as well as approaching and recapturing the object. Object J also approached the space plane and docked with it 3 times during the mission. The activity was tracked by Leo Labs and reported in SpaceNews. This follows an earlier article by @sarahjay1, The mysterious Chinese space plane returned to Earth after record long flight.

In April, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems published about their new remote-controlled jellyfish robot that can move at speeds up to 6.1 centimeters per second and carry light objects. Soft robots are of interest for underwater activities because they are unlikely to harm marine life. With its ability to lift and move light objects, it is thought that a robot like this one may be helpful for cleaning up future pollution sites. This robot improves on other technologies which are ineffective underwater, limited in movement and autonomy, or too noisy. A density adjusting block in the robot keeps it at neutral buoyancy, and motion is powered and directed by electrically animated tentacles.

Launched on January 4, 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has dodged more than 300 single points of failure in order to remain in operation and collect some of the best observations of space in human history. The project cost about $10 billion and is slated to last for 25 years. Unlike most satellites, the JWST doesn't orbit the earth, but rather it hovers 1.5 million kilometers away at the Lagrange Point 2. This harnesses gravity from the Earth and Sun, and also makes use of centrifugal force, in order to reduce the fuel requirement to hold a steady position. Observations from the JWST are made with infrared sensors, instead of visible light. In order to accomplish this, advanced engineering went into production of the sensor, the heat shield, and also the mirror.

The Community

The Popular STEM community is intended to be a place for accessible STEM conversations (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). If you have an interest in STEM topics, please come join us!

About STEM Saturday

If members would like to have your own STEM content considered for future promotions, please come join us and start contributing. I don't know how long I'll be continuing the tradition, but while I do, here are the minimum requirements for consideration (subject to change without notice ;-).

1. Original, plagiarism-free content
2. Minimum word count: currently 300 words, but this may be adjusted.
3. The content must not be cross-posted on other web sites or blockchains. Correct use of the #steemexclusive tag is encouraged.
4. English language. (sorry, it's the only one I know)
5. Because a post leaves /promoted at payout time, posts created shortly before STEM Saturday may be more likely to be chosen than older posts.

All community members are invited to create original and exclusive content that can be considered for future promotions.

Please help grow the science & technology audience on the Steem blockchain by following the Science and Technology on the Social Blockchain Facebook page then liking & sharing our links!

Visit the /promoted page and #burnsteem25 to support the inflation-fighters who are helping to enable decentralized regulation of Steem token supply growth.)