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MAGNETIC RADIATION SHIELD. “Atmospheric oxygen is known to have been increasing in the relevant era but this is poorly quantified. A newly-formed, weak dipolar magnetic field originating about 600 m.y. ago, strengthening at about 550 m.y., could plausibly have shielded against ionized radiation, enabling the Ediacarian start and Cambrian acceleration of multicellular evolution.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825219302636?via=ihub View in LinkedIn

MURMURINGS. “Our results suggest that flocks behave as critical systems, poised to respond maximally to environmental perturbations. Whatever the origin of the scale-free behavior is, the very low value of the exponent γ that we find, i.e., the fact that the correlation is almost not decaying with the distance, is by far the most surprising and exotic feature of bird flocks. How starlings achieve such a strong correlation remains a mystery to us.” https://lnkd.in/eUVrNwuW View in LinkedIn

STRANGE MATING. Argonautidae, or paper nautiluses, are pelagic octopuses, and the dwarf males have an exaggerated copulatory tentacle equipped with a with penis with tentacles, which detaches during breeding into an autonomous missile called a hectocotylus, and swims about for some time seeking females. Females sometimes keep the little creature inside the brood case until her eggs are mature. This strange detachment can survive for 7 hours without water, This penis has been mistaken for a parasitic worm, and for a new male form of the octopus. https://lnkd.in/e7h9CDcN View in LinkedIn

ANTIPARTICLE SAMPLE. “Our planet is constantly bombarded by Cosmic Rays (CRs), high-energy charged particles reaching us from regions of space external to the Solar System.” https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10686-021-09708-w.pdf View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this second and last weekend on the magnetic shield theory of Warren Hamilton and how it might contribute to explaining the Cambrian explosion. It is also a case study on how science actively resists new ideas and how vicious those conceptual turf wars can get. https://lnkd.in/d8kyQ4xj View in LinkedIn

PLANNING. “For the Voyage 2035–2050 program a new generation of detectors/electronics will be available and tested (e.g. SiPM, silicon pixel detectors) allowing to reach even better performances with reduced power requirements.” https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10686-021-09708-w.pdf View in LinkedIn

THE IDEAL PROCESS. “Recognize a problem, gather information, evaluate conflicts between concepts in diverse fields, and seek explanation and understanding. New or revised concepts should themselves be subject to constant scrutiny as new data come in and as other disciplines provide data for challenge.” https://lnkd.in/d8kyQ4xj View in LinkedIn

HUNTING OF THE SNARK. “Access to space is mandatory to avoid atmospheric background and to ensure an extended observation time. A collection factor of ≈ 20 m2-sr years is needed to increase by a factor 10(3) current limits on anti-4He or heavier nuclear anti-matter.” https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10686-021-09708-w.pdf View in LinkedIn

“ANTIPARTICLES (e+, p−, D−, anti-3He) constitute a golden channel for this search, since the rare antiparticle component of DM annihilation/decay products, would give rise to an observable excess on these fluxes with respect to the tiny standard astro-physical expectations, not influenced by the otherwise large background of standard CRs.” (DM = dark matter; CR = cosmic ray). https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10686-021-09708-w.pdf View in LinkedIn

NO HEN’S TOOTH. “Since DM is abundant in the Universe, particle astrophysics in space is the right environment for indirect searches of DM particles.” (DM = dark matter). https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10686-021-09708-w.pdf View in LinkedIn