“A 10-minute brain scan could detect dementia several years before people develop noticeable symptoms, a study suggests.
Scientists used a scan of ‘resting’ brain activity to identify whether people would go on to develop dementia, with an estimated 80% accuracy up to nine years before people received a diagnosis. If the findings were confirmed in a larger cohort, the scan could become a routine procedure in memory clinics, scientists said.”
From The Guardian.
“Astronomers have discovered 128 new moons orbiting Saturn, giving it an insurmountable lead in the running tally of moons in the solar system…
The moons were identified using the ‘shift and stack’ technique, in which astronomers acquire sequential images that trace the moon’s path across the sky and combine them to make the moon bright enough to detect. All of the 128 new moons are ‘irregular moons’, potato-shaped objects that are just a few kilometres across. The escalating number of these objects highlights potential future disagreements over what actually counts as a moon.”
From The Guardian.
“Astronomers are predicting an ‘avalanche of discoveries’ after the first major release of observations from a European space telescope built to study the mysterious dark matter and dark energy that comprise the bulk of the universe.
The European Space Agency’s Euclid mission has captured images of 26m galaxies, covering 10bn years of cosmic history. They give researchers unprecedented insight into the forces that shape the cosmos and the galaxies it holds.
The first batch of survey data has allowed researchers to create a detailed catalogue of 380,000 galaxies, revealing the rich variation in galactic structures, with some caught in the act of merging with their neighbours.
Further images reveal how massive galaxies surrounded by dark matter, the invisible substance said to pervade the universe, warp space and magnify more distant galaxies behind them. These rare images are among the best leads scientists have for understanding the nature of dark matter.”
From The Guardian.
“Multiple reports of damaged telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea have raised alarm in recent months…
So, some companies are trying to monitor what’s going on in the vicinity of any cable – by using fibre optic signals to listen out for surreptitious underwater drones, or hostile vessels dragging their anchors along the seabed.
With this technology, it is even possible to work out the approximate size of a vessel passing above a subsea cable, as well as its location and, in some circumstances, its direction of travel. That could be correlated with satellite imagery, or even automatic identification system (AIS) records, which most ships broadcast at all times…
Mr Heiden argues that cables installed solely for the purpose of monitoring marine activity could be especially useful – one might place such listening cables, say, 100km from a vital port, or in the vicinity of a key gas pipeline or telecommunications cable, rather than within those assets themselves.”
From BBC.
“Help may at last be on the way for the Nepali Sherpas who carry heavy loads for foreign climbers through treacherous sections of the world’s tallest peak.
When the main climbing season begins next month on Mount Everest, expedition companies will test drones that can ferry loads as heavy as 35 pounds in the high altitudes, bring back ladders used to set the climbing routes, and remove waste that is typically left behind.
Goods that would normally take seven hours to be transported by foot from Everest’s base camp to Camp I can be airlifted within 15 minutes. By lightening the Sherpas’ burdens, drone operators hope that the chances of fatal accidents — which have risen as climate change has accelerated snowmelt — can now be reduced.”
From New York Times.
