How to Plan the Ultimate Caribbean Luxury Vacation – Caribbean Journal

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In the age of social distancing, travelers are placing a premium on privacy both in their transportation and their accommodations.

And thats the reasoning behind the launch of leading luxury villa rental company WIMCOs new WIMCO Prive concierge travel service.

WIMCO Prive works with WIMCOs longtime partner, Tradewind Aviation, to plan each aspect of the ultimate Caribbean luxury vacation.

It gives travelers the ability to arrange a private, luxury and crowd-free travel experience from their home airports right to the Caribbean, with private aviation on each leg of the trip and a private villa for the vacation itself.

When transfers are required to smaller airports on private islands, WIMCO will arrange wing to wing transfers, avoiding airport terminals entirely, the company says.

In the age of social distancing, access to private aviation and private villas helps in reducing the risk of contracting a virus while away from home, according to Stiles Bennet, president of WIMCO.

The service also provides a unique way to streamline travel to some of the Caribbeans harder-to-reach destinations like Canouan in the Grenadines; the British Virgin Islands and Mustique, among others.

When we developed this service, one of the benefits we designed in was improving the ease of access to some of the smaller islands in the Caribbean that do not have direct flights from the US. Bennet told Caribbean Journal.

A sample itinerary might be taking a private jet from Westchester to St Barth via San Juan, for a stay in a villa or a yacht in St Barth.

Or a getaway from Philadelphia direct to Anguilla for a family beach getaway.

WIMCO Prive gives travelers the choice of private jets for parties of any size from light jets of six to seven passengers to airliners for 60 passengers.

WIMCO Prive can also request quotes on chartering private yachts.

For more, visit WIMCO Prive.

CJ

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How to Plan the Ultimate Caribbean Luxury Vacation - Caribbean Journal

Disney Cruise Line has 2022 itineraries and an update on Disney Wish – Travelweek

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Disney Dream passengers at Disney Cruise Line's Castaway Cay (photo credit Diana Zalucky)

CELEBRATION, FL Disney Cruise Line is heading back to Hawaii and other top sun destinations in early 2022.

DCL is also giving an update on its new-build ship, Disney Wish.

Originally planned to sail in early 2022, the Disney Wish is now scheduled for its maiden voyage in summer 2022 due to pandemic-related delays at Germanys Meyer-Werft shipyard.

Disney Wish will be powered by liquified natural gas or LNG, one of the cleanest-burning fuels available. At approximately 144,000 gross tons and 1,250 guest staterooms, the ship will be slightly larger than the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.

2022 ITINERARIES

With its 2022 lineup, DCL is announcing 10-night Hawaiian Islands cruises and a variety of sailings to the Bahamas, Caribbean and Mexico, departing from U.S. homeports including New Orleans, Galveston, Texas, San Diego, Miami and Port Canaveral, as well as sailings from Vancouver.

Bookings open to the public on Oct. 22, 2020. More details on 2022 itineraries can be found on thePorts and Itineraries for 2022page ofdisneycruise.com.

The Disney Wonder returns to Hawaii in early 2022 for two special 10-night cruises: a voyage to Honolulu from Vancouver on April 26, 2022 and a return sailing to Vancouver on May 6, 2022.

Clients can combine a Disney cruise getaway with a stay at Walt Disney World Resort in early 2022 with two ships sailing from Port Canaveral near Orlando, and a third ship departing from Miami. Every cruise from Florida in early 2022 includes a visit to Disneys private island, Castaway Cay.

From Port Canaveral, the Disney Fantasy begins the year with a six-night Western Caribbean cruise, followed by seven-night voyages to a variety of favorite destinations in the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

The Disney Dream, also sailing from Port Canaveral, embarks on three- and four-night Bahamian cruises to Nassau and Castaway Cay. One special four-night cruise includes two stops at Castaway Cay.

From Miami, the Disney Magic sails four- and five-night Bahamian cruises and five-night Western Caribbean cruises. One special three-night sailing to Castaway Cay and Key West.

The Disney Wonder sails Western Caribbean getaways early in the year, first from Galveston, with four-night itineraries, followed by four- and six-night voyages from New Orleans.

A six-night Bahamian voyage offered from both Galveston and New Orleans gives passengers the opportunity to visit Castaway Cay, in addition to Key West.

The Disney Wonder returns to San Diego in March and April with cruises to Baja, Mexico. Most sailings to the Baja peninsula call on the charming coastal city of Ensenada, known for its turquoise blue water and rugged mountainous terrain. A two-night cruise to Ensenada has a Friday departure from San Diego.

Four- and five-night Baja cruises include a visit to Cabo San Lucas, or to Catalina Island.

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Disney Cruise Line has 2022 itineraries and an update on Disney Wish - Travelweek

Escape To The Secret Sophistication of The Florida Keys – Ocean Drive Magazine

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Far from the motels and the honky-tonk, Ocean Drive travels down U.S. 1 and discovers the secret sophistication of the Florida Keys.

Sunset cocktails on the floating tiki bar at Bungalows Key Largo (bungalowskeylargo.com), an all-inclusive property located 63 miles south of Miami

We are here to tell you that the slips of islands that make up the Florida Keys are far more dynamic than meets the eye. Sure, there are the guidebook hot spots (Hemingways six-toed cats, sunsets in Mallory Square), but the tropical archipelago is also home to many hidden gems: fish shacks serving five-star dinners, roadside diners with mouthwatering Key lime muffins and secret beaches that feel miles from home. Join us on a trip down the Overseas Highway.

Where to stay without kids

Little Palm Island Resort & Spa, Little Torch Key

A private bungalow at Little Palm Island

A vintage wood-paneled yacht takes guests from Little Torch Key (about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Miami) to Little Palm Island, a South Seas fantasy isle with thatched-roof cottages deliberately fitted with no phones, TVs or internet connections. This is no doubt a place to escape. A best-kept secret of U.S. presidents and celebrities, the resort is located on a lush, private island dotted with crushed seashell paths and tropical foliage. Each of the 15 redesigned bungalows offers vibrant ocean views and plush, all-new interiors. The newly renovated resort also boasts a world-class spa and five-star dining.

lounging on the edge of paradise

the Romance Suite

Where to stay with the kids

Tranquility Bay, Marathon

the main house at Tranquility Bay

Near the base of Seven Mile Bridge sits a property that feels miles away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Located on Marathon and situated on 12 gorgeous acres, the Tranquility Bay resort lives up to its name the minute you pull off U.S. 1. Behind the hedges sits a resort offering so many amenities that you rarely have to leave. Theres a private beach, multiple pools, water sports center with kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and waverunners, beach volleyball court, and Nicklaus Design putting green. TJs Tiki Bar, located on the beachfront, serves lunch and is a great spot for cocktails at sunset. Butterfly Caf restaurant serves dinner and has a covered patio for al fresco dining. Townhouse-style beach houses are ideal for families or groups.

The Tranquility Bay property features a sandy beach and plenty of shade under palm trees.

Where to explore

Dry Tortugas

the underwater paradise surrounding Dry Tortugas National Park

Americas most remote national park has a curious history. Pirates, prisoners and a deadly epidemic once haunted Floridas Dry Tortugas. Now its a tropical haven for wildlife. To get there, you must traverse 70 miles of open water from Key West to the park. You can take Yankee Freedom III, a high-speed ocean-going catamaran, private boat or a seaplane. Once you arrive, the island is yours to explore.

Photography by: From Top: photo courtesy of Bungalows Key Largo; photos courtesy of Little Palm Island Resort & Spa; tranquility bar photos courtesy of Tranquility Bay; Dry Tortugas photo by Lee Rentz / Alamy

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D’Aguilar: Be patient on tourism restart – EyeWitness News

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS Tourism Minister Dionisio DAguilar yesterday urged industry stakeholders to be patient with regards to the industrys revival, noting that the industry would not immediately return to its pre-COVID performance.

While addressing reporters ahead of a Cabinet meeting yesterday, DAguilar said: This is going to be a crawl before you walk and before you run. Its not going to be right back to pre-COVID. Its going to be a staggered approach to getting tourism back and running.

People are going to become frustrated. The players coming back are doing so very cautiously and want to make sure the Ts are crossed and slowly they will be able to expand.

DAguilar noted that with regards to the cruise lines they will return to their private islands first, then pre-arranged tours and then regular calls on the cruise ports.

With tourism employing 50 percent of the countrys workforce, he stressed the country must work towards getting the sector restarted.

Tourism employs 50 percent of our workforce, it is two-thirds of our economy, he continued.

There are people out there that think we should shift to another industry. There is not an industry that they can think of or we can think of that can replace tourism in the short to medium term. We have to get it going. We have to get our economy going and people back to work. We think we are doing it in the safest possible way, said DAguilar.

DAguilar stressed that it is critical for the survival of the tourism sector, that the country significantly lowers its COVID-19 infection rate.

It behooves us to get the numbers down. I implore everyone to do what they can to contribute to community spread. It is critical for the survival of the tourism sector for us to get the numbers down, he said.

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Ngpuhi protesters prepared to stand in front of bulldozers to stop development on whi tapu land – RNZ

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Ngpuhi protesters occupying private land in the Bay of Islands town of Opua say they're prepared to stand in front of bulldozers to stop a housing development.

The Ngpuhi protesters camp on Puketiti, an old headland in the Bay of Islands town of Opua which was sold for a housing development earlier this year. Photo: Supplied

A group of 20 people have been occupying the site, which is situated on the headland known to local Mori as Puketiti, since Saturday.

They're trying to stop the construction of 17 houses by a private developer, after the commercial arm of the Far North District Council sold the public land in March this year.

Protest spokesperson Tony Williams, from the hap Te Roroa, said they had exhausted every other avenue but the council would not undo the sale.

"We're intending to camp or occupy on top of the maunga until we get a response or resolve the development," Williams said.

"We're willing to stay up here even if they bring bulldozers up here, we're willing to stand in front of the bulldozers, that's how far we're going to go."

A sign at the site. Photo: Supplied

He said the site was a whi tapu, or a significant cultural site.

His grandfather told him the maunga was a lookout point for their ancestors, who could see ships to the left of the lookout coming from Russell and Paihia, Ngti Hine waka coming from Taumarere to the right, and directly ahead, ships from Herekino.

"My tpuna used to put his warriors [there] to check, to keep an eye on any enemy ships coming towards their p."

A banner flying at the site. Photo: Supplied

It was also the home of Te Roroa rangatira, Pumuka, who was killed at the battle of Kororreka in 1845, and the hap have called for a pou to be established on the site.

The land is also part of a Waitangi claim submitted by Sir James Henare over 30 years ago, which calls for control of the whenua to be returned to Ngpuhi, and for all resource consents from April 1987 to be rescinded.

Williams said they had a lot of support from the community, who had brought them food over the last few days - and the principal of the local school wanted to bring children over to learn more about the history of the site.

The protest group also want a public reserve at Walls Bay to returned to them.

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Ngpuhi protesters prepared to stand in front of bulldozers to stop development on whi tapu land - RNZ

Miss ‘overseas’ holidays? Head to the Hauraki Gulf – New Zealand Herald

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Missing 'overseas' holidays? Visit the sparkling gems of Auckland's gulf, writes Thomas Bywater. We ask seasoned skippers and touring kayak guides for their top spots in Auckland's marine conservation parks

Sitting on Kohimarama beach, planning a kayak trip, it's hard not to feel overwhelmed by choice. The waters of the Hauraki Gulf are full of hundreds of islands. Even those within a couple of hours' paddling distance read more like the plot of Gulliver's Travels than a list of real places.

There are magmatic caves, isolated beaches, island sanctuaries of exotic life. In the Gulf you'll find pockets of re-introduced takahe, ancient tuatara, peacocks and Ponui donkeys. For those looking for a substitute for cancelled plans to Australia, I've even been told there's even the odd marsupial. Kawau Island and its wallabies are as exotic as any overseas trip. Though, in their own way I suppose all these islands are "overseas". If only a few hundred metres at a time.

Whether on a guided kayak trip or on the top deck of a ferry, they're accessible to all. Here are the best spots to visit in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, according to guides who know it best:

Browns Island/Motukorea

The gentle sloping cone of Browns Island is frustratingly close to the eastern suburbs, yet few Aucklanders have ever set foot on it.

"It's a bit of a hidden gem, about an hour's paddling from St Heliers beach," says Nic. "If you've got a reasonable sense of balance you can get here quite easily."

Climbing to the trig point offers a "360 views over the city and marine park", which you'll not get anywhere else.

Rangitoto

While you can hardly miss the volcanic lump of Rangitoto, there are still plenty of experiences and adventures hidden on the island. Such as Gardiner Gap, between Rangitoto and Motutapu. "You come through the mangroves and see Tiritiri Matangi in the distance. It's absolutely awesome and something you can only do by kayak at full tide."

Sometimes seeing a familiar sight at an unfamiliar hour can be an adventure in itself. The company runs sunset trips to Rangitoto's summit - a "very popular date night" says Nic.

It's a fair distance in a double kayak, but almost anyone can do it. So says Nic, who took his 83-year-old grandmother on the trip. Returning in the dark, in a convoy of illuminated boats is not something you do every day.

aucklandseakayaks.co.nz

The Noises

The Noises are a hoot, says Scott. "I haven't kayaked there but have been many times on my boat from Waiheke. There is an enclosed pool surrounded by rocks on one of the islands," he says, which was almost made to be jumped in. Originally named the Noisettes or "Hazelnuts" by French navigator Dumont D'Urville, they were renamed Noises or "Noiseys" by Anglophone Aucklanders.

You won't find any nuts of these on the islands, but you will find geckos, thousand-year-old phutukawa and giant wtpunga as big as your hand. Eek!

Today they are privately owned by the Neureuter family who are keen conservationists. http://www.thenoises.nz

Pnui Island

Another privately owned island is Pnui /Chamberlins Island. Apart from being one of Auckland's oldest farms - still managed by the same family since 1852 - it is also home to the white Ponui donkeys. "On previous trips we have been able to see the wild donkeys, while we were paddling round the southern bays," says Scott.

Though there is no public access for travellers there is one campsite on the island, run by the Christian youth camp Scripture Union NZ.

A survey by Massey University found a population of 1500 kiwi on the island, giving it a greater density of the birds than Stewart Island/Rakiura.

fergskayaks.co.nz

Rotoroa

"Travelling to hidden gems around the Hauraki Gulf each day is a privilege," says Karl.

For the past 35 years he has been taking ferry passengers from Auckland to Tiritiri Matangi, Rakino Island and even on the Waiheke shuttle - however if Karl had to pick a favourite route it would be Auckland to Coromandel.

Allowing passengers to "skip the traffic and travel to Coromandel by ferry", the route is the longest run by Fullers. At $103 return, it's a valuable service to know about as the roads out of Auckland clog up in the build-up to Christmas. However, the main reason it stands out for Karl is one of the stops on the way, just past Waiheke.

"Rotoroa Island is one of those hidden gems you've heard of but may not have visited yet," he says. With only the one scheduled daily ferry, Rotoroa is your private island for the day.

Once a rehabilitation camp run by the Salvation Army, it's now meticulously run as a conservation area by the Rotoroa trust.

The sandy Ladies and Mens bays are "only a few minutes' walk across the island, perfect for a picnic" says Karl.

Although the service has been paused since the March Lockdown, Fullers will be operating routes to Rotoroa and Coromandel from October 24.

fullers.co.nz

For more New Zealand travel ideas and inspiration, go to newzealand.com

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Miss 'overseas' holidays? Head to the Hauraki Gulf - New Zealand Herald

Beaver Island Retreat, In Up-North Michigan Indianapolis Monthly – Indianapolis Monthly

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Rate: $179 per night

Glam Factor: 5 of 5

When Gordon Lightfoot sang that Lake Michigans islands and bays are for sportsmen, he was no doubt referring to Beaver Island, Michigan, the largest of the former. Located 32 miles off the coast of Charlevoix, a posh boaters haven, the 58-square-mile enclave is home to dense pine and cedar forests, more than 700 acres of public nature preserve, seven inland lakes, and about 550 of your new best friends.

The islands year-round residents, many of whom are descended from a group of 19th-century Irish settlers, are so friendly that its easy to fantasize about buying some land and joining their ranks. Just ask Brian Vaeth and Maria Dal Pra, who did just that when they opened Beaver Island Retreat in 2019. Looking to escape their daily corporate grind in Ohio, the couple designed their 35-acre woodland utopia to maximize creature comfortsbring only what you would to a hotel, except perhaps a flashlightwith minimal impact on the environment, from sustainable bath products to extensive forest-fire safety precautions.

Each safari tent is situated on its own 2,500-square-foot glamp site, with a queen-size bed and memory foam mattress, private picnic area, and outdoor kitchenette. Charcoal and firewood are provided, with a self-serve buffet of supplies just steps away. Every tents solar power offers luxury glamping amenities like bedside lamps fitted with iPhone chargers, outdoor twinkle lights for ambience, and a Bluetooth speaker. Restrooms with showers, a commercial kitchen, and Wi-Fi are available at the main pavilion, where guests gather to (temporarily) plug into the mainland or share a bottle of wine as the whip-poor-wills sing all around.

Getting to the island is a treat itself, whether via 15-minute flight aboard a prop plane or a two-hour ferry voyage from Charlevoix. The camp is several miles from any transit, so car rental is recommended. Kings Highway, the main road, is named for a 19th-century Mormon leader who crowned himself and made Beaver Island Americas only kingdom. Residents hold little regard for his majesty James Strang, but after a few days roving his stomping grounds, one cant help but agree the island is fit for glamping royalty. 34195 Kings Hwy., Beaver Island, Michigan, 614-571-5062, beaverislandretreat.com

Eat: Just outside the harbor town of St. James, Circle M (beaverisland.org/circle-m) serves a reliable menu in a former rectory. Widely revered by locals as the best eating on the island, the place will also sell you a bottle of wine to take back to your tent.

Hike: Bring binoculars, as Beaver Island is an important site for some 250 species of migratory birds. The Beaver Island Birding Trail (beaverislandbirdingtrail.org) offers 35 unique viewing areas.

Explore:Two historic lighthouses keep watch over the islands northern and southern points, and theyre both worth a visit to catch the sunset off Donegal Bay.

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Beaver Island Retreat, In Up-North Michigan Indianapolis Monthly - Indianapolis Monthly

Singularity Minded: The Black Hole Science that Won a Nobel Prize – ZME Science

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The 2020 Nobel prize in physics has been jointly awarded to Roger Penrose, Reinhart Genzel, and Andrea Ghez for their contributions to our understanding of black holesthe Universes most mysterious and compact objects. Whilst Genzel and Ghez claim their share of the most celebrated prize in physics for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxyan object that we would later come to realize was a supermassive black hole which was later named Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*)Penrose is awarded his share for an arguably more fundamental breakthrough.

The Nobel is awarded to Penrose based on a 1965 paper in which he mathematically demonstrated that black holes arise as a direct consequence of the mathematics of Einsteins theory of General Relativity. Not only this; but for a body of a certain mass, the collapse into a singularity wasnt just possible, or even probable. If that collapse could not be halted, singularity formation, Penrose argued, is inevitable.

For the discovery, that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity

The fact that Penrose showed that black holes mathematically emerge from general relativity may seem even more revolutionary when considering that the developer of general relativitya geometric theory of gravity that suggests mass curves the fabric of spacetimeAlbert Einstein did not even believe that black holes actually existed.

It was ten years after Einsteins death in April 1955 when Penrose showed that singularities form as a result of the mathematics of general relativity and that these singularities act as the heart of the black hole. At this centralor gravitationalsingularity, Penrose argued, all laws of physics displayed in the outside Universe ceased to apply.

The paper published in January 1965just eight years after Penrose earned his Ph.D. from The University of CambridgeGravitational Collapse and Spacetime Singularities is still widely regarded as the second most important contribution to general relativity after that of Einstein himself.

Yet, Penrose wasnt the first physicist to mathematically unpick general relativity and discover a singularity. Despite this, his Penrose Singularity Theorem is still considered a watershed moment in the history of general relativity.

A black hole is to be expected when a large massive body reaches a stage where internal pressure forces are insufficient to hold the body apart against the relentless inward pull of its own gravitational influence.

Black holes are generally regarded as possessing two singularities; a coordinate singularity and an actual gravitational singularity. Penroses work concerned the actual singularity, so named because unlike the coordinate singularity, it could not be removed with a clever choice of coordinate measurement.

That doesnt mean, however, that the coordinate singularity is unimportant or even easy to dismiss. In fact, you may already be very familiar with the coordinate singularity, albeit under a different namethe event horizon. This boundary marks the point where the region of space defined as a black hole begins, delineating the limit at which light can no longer escape.

The discovery of the event horizon occurred shortly after the first publication of Einsteins theory of general relativity in 1915. In 1916, whilst serving on the Eastern Front in the First World War astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild developed the Schwarzschild solution, which described the spacetime geometry of an empty region of space. One of the interesting features of this solutiona coordinate singularity.

The coordinate singularityalso often taking a third more official name as the Schwarzschild radius (Rs)exists for all massive bodies at r =Rs = 2GM/c. This marks the point where the escape velocity of the body is such that not even light can escape its grasp. For most cosmic bodies the Schwarzschild radius falls well within its own radius (r). For example, the Suns Rs occurs at a radius of about 3km from the centre compared to an overall radius of 0.7 million km.

Thus, the Schwarzschild radius or event horizon marks the boundary of a light-trapping surface. A distant observer could see an event taking place at the edge of this surface, but should it pass beyond that boundaryno signal could ever reach our observer. An observer falling with the surface, though, would notice nothing about this boundary.

The passing of Rs would just seem a natural part of the fall to them despite it marking the point of no return. To the distant observer the surface would freeze and become redder and redder thanks to the phenomena of gravitational redshiftalso the reason the event horizon is sometimes referred to as the surface of infinite redshift.

The very definition of a black hole is a massive body whose surface shrinks so much during the gravitational collapse that its surface lies within this boundary. But, what if this collapse continues? When does it reach a central singularity at the heart of the black holer= 0 for the mathematically inclined?

We see that the matter continues to collapse inwards through the surface called the event horizon, where the escape velocity indeed becomes the speed of light. Thereafter, no further information from the star itself can reach any outside observer, and a black hole is formed.

Penrose and other researchers have found that the equations of general relativity open the possibility that a body may undergo a complete gravitational collapseshrinking to a point of almost infinite densityand become a black hole.

In order for this to happen, however, a series of limits have to be reached and exceeded. For example, planets are unable to undergo this gravitational collapse as the mass they possess is insufficient to overcome the electromagnetic repulsion between their consistent atomsthus granting them stability.

Likewise, average-sized stars such as the Sun should also be resistant to gravitational collapse. The plasma found at the centre of stars in this solar-mass range is believed to be roughly ten times the density of lead protecting from complete collapse, whilst the thermal pressure arising from nuclear processes and radiation pressure alone would be sufficient to guarantee a star of low to intermediate-mass stability.

For older, more evolved stars in which nuclear reactions have ceased due to a lack of fuel. Its a different story. Especially if they have a mass ten times greater than the Sun.

It was suggested as early as the 1920s that small, dense starswhite dwarf starswere supported against collapse by phenomena arising from quantum mechanics called degeneracy.

This degeneracy pressure arises from the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that fermions such as electrons are forbidden from occupying the same quantum state. This led a physicist called Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar to question if there was an upper limit to this protection.

In 1931, Chandrasekhar proposed that above 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, a white dwarf would no longer be protected from gravitational collapse by degeneracy pressure. Beyond this boundaryunsurprisingly termed the Chandrasekhar limitgravity overwhelms the Pauli exclusion principle and gravitational collapse continues unabated.

The discovery of neutronsthe neutral partner of protons in atomic nucleiin 1932 led Russian theorist Lev Landau to speculate about the possibility of neutron stars. The outer part of these stars would contain neutron-rich nuclei, whilst the inner sections would be formed from a quantum-fluid comprised of mostly neutrons.

Again, neutron stars would be protected against gravitational collapse by degeneracy pressurethis time provided by this neutron fluid. In addition to this, the greater mass of the neutron in comparison to the electron would allow neutron stars to reach a greater density before undergoing collapse.

To put this into perspective, a white dwarf with the mass of the Sun would be expected to have a millionth of our stars volumegiving it a radius of5000 km roughly that of the Earth. A neutron star of a similar mass though, that would have a radius of about 20kmroughly the size of a city.

By 1939, Robert Oppenheimer had calculated that the mass-limit for neutron stars would be roughly 3 times the mass of the Sun. Above that limitagain, gravitational collapse wins. Oppenheimer also used general relativity to describe how this collapse appears to a distant observer. They would consider the collapse to take an infinitely long time, the process appearing to slow and freeze as the stars surface shrinks towards the Schwarzschild radius.

So long as Einsteins picture of classical spacetime can be maintained, acting in accordance with Einsteins equation then a singularity will be encountered within a black hole. The expectation is that Einsteins equation will tell us that this singularity cannot be avoided by any matter in the hole

For Penrose, the mathematical proof of a physical singularity at the heart of a black hole arising from this complete collapse was not enough. He wanted to demonstrate the singularity and the effects on a spacetime that would arise there. He did so with the use of light cones travelling down a geodesican unerringly straight line. In the process, he unveiled the anatomy of the black hole.

A light cone is most simply described as the path that a flash of light created by a single event and travelling in all directions would take through spacetime. Light cones can be especially useful when it comes to physicists calculating which events can be causally linked. If a line cant be drawn between the two events that fits in the light cone, one cannot have caused the other.

We call a line emerging from a lightcone a world-linethese move from the central event out through the top of the conethe future part of the diagram. The worldline shows the possible path of a particle or signal created by the event at the origin of the lightcone. Throwing a light cone at a black hole demonstrates why passing the event horizon means a merger with the central singularity is inevitable.

Penrose considered what would happen to a light cone as it approached and passed the event horizon of what is known as a Kerr black hole. This is a black hole that is non-charged and rotating. Its angular momentum drags spacetime along with it in an effect researchers call frame dragging.

Far from the black hole, light is free to travel with equal ease in any direction. The lightcones here have a traditionally symmetrical appearance which represents this.

However, towards the static limitthe point at which the black hole starts to drag spacetime around with itthe lightcones begin to tip towards the singularity and in the direction of rotation and narrow. Thus the static limit represents the point at which light is no longer free to travel in any direction. It must move in a direction that doesnt oppose the rotation of the black hole. Particles at this limit can no longer sit stillhence the name static limit.

Yet, despite the fact the dragging effect is so strong, here that not even light can resist it, signals can escape this regionit isnt the event horizonbut they can only do so by travelling in the direction of the rotation.

Interestingly, Penrose suggests that particles entering the static limit and decaying to two separate particles may result in energy leaching from the black hole in what is known as the Penrose process, but thats a discussion for another time.

So as our light cone moves toward the event horizon, it begins to narrow and tip. But, something extraordinary happens when it passes this boundary. As long as one is using so-called Swartzchild coordinates, once inside the black hole proper, the lightcone flips on its side, with the future end of the cone pointed towards the singularity.

This can mean only one thing for the worldline of that event, it points to the central singularity signalling that an encounter with that singularity is evitable.

It is generally believed that the spacetime singularities of gravitational collapse will necessarily always lie within an event horizon, to that whatever happens to be the extraordinary physical effects at such a singularity, these will be hidden from the view of any external observer.

Black holes arent particularly complex in construction and posses only three properties mass, electric charge, and angular momentumbut physicists working with light cones were able to determine the layers of their anatomyand crucially, the bounded surfaces that exist within them.This is what was revolutionary about Penroses concepts, they introduced the concept of bounded surfaces to black holes.

Looking back on this from an era in which a black hole has been imaged for the first time and gravitational waves are beginning to be routinely measured from the mergers of such objects, its important to not underestimate the importance of Penroses findings.

Before any practical developments surround black holes could even be dreamed of, Roger Penrose provided the mathematical basis to not just suggest the existence of black holes, but also laying the groundwork for their anatomy, and the effect they have on their immediate environment.

Thus, what Penroses Nobel award can really be seen as a recognition of moving these objectsor more accurately, spacetime eventsfrom the realm of speculation to scientific theory.

Penrose. R., Gravitational Collapse and Space-Time Singularities, Physical Review Letters, vol. 14, Issue 3, pp. 57-59, [1965]

Penrose. R., The Road to Reality, Random House, 2004

Senovilla. J. M. M., Garfinkle. G., The 1965 Penrose Singularity Theorem, Classical and Quantum Gravity, [2015].

Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology,Robert J. Lambourne, Cambridge Press, 2010.

Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology: A basic introduction, Ta-Pei Cheng, Oxford University Press, 2005.

Extreme Environment Astrophysics,Ulrich Kolb, Cambridge Press, 2010.

Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis,Sean G. Ryan, Andrew J. Norton, Cambridge Press, 2010.

Cosmology,Matts Roos, Wiley Publishing, 2003.

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Singularity Minded: The Black Hole Science that Won a Nobel Prize - ZME Science

When Did We Become Fully Human? What Fossils and DNA Tell Us About the Evolution of Modern Intelligence – Singularity Hub

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When did something like us first appear on the planet? It turns out theres remarkably little agreement on this question. Fossils and DNA suggest people looking like us, anatomically modern Homo sapiens, evolved around 300,000 years ago. Surprisingly, archaeologytools, artifacts, cave artsuggest that complex technology and cultures, behavioral modernity, evolved more recently: 50,000 to 65,000 years ago.

Some scientists interpret this as suggesting the earliest Homo sapiens werent entirely modern. Yet the different data tracks different things. Skulls and genes tell us about brains, artifacts about culture. Our brains probably became modern before our cultures.

Key physical and cultural milestones in modern human evolution, including genetic divergence of ethnic groups. Image credit: Nick Longrich / author provided

For 200,000 to 300,000 years after Homo sapiens first appeared, tools and artifacts remained surprisingly simple, little better than Neanderthal technology, and simpler than those of modern hunter-gatherers such as certain indigenous Americans. Starting about 65,000 to 50,000 years ago, more advanced technology started appearing: complex projectile weapons such as bows and spear-throwers, fishhooks, ceramics, sewing needles.

People made representational artcave paintings of horses, ivory goddesses, lion-headed idols, showing artistic flair and imagination. A bird-bone flute hints at music. Meanwhile, arrival of humans in Australia 65,000 years ago shows wed mastered seafaring.

This sudden flourishing of technology is called the great leap forward, supposedly reflecting the evolution of a fully modern human brain. But fossils and DNA suggest that human intelligence became modern far earlier.

Bones of primitive Homo sapiens first appear 300,000 years ago in Africa, with brains as large or larger than ours. Theyre followed by anatomically modern Homo sapiens at least 200,000 years ago, and brain shape became essentially modern by at least 100,000 years ago. At this point, humans had braincases similar in size and shape to ours.

Assuming the brain was as modern as the box that held it, our African ancestors theoretically could have discovered relativity, built space telescopes, written novels and love songs. Their bones say they were just as human as we are.

300,000 ya skull, Morocco. Image credit: NHM

Because the fossil record is so patchy, fossils provide only minimum dates. Human DNA suggests even earlier origins for modernity. Comparing genetic differences between DNA in modern people and ancient Africans, its estimated that our ancestors lived 260,000 to 350,000 years ago. All living humans descend from those people, suggesting that we inherited the fundamental commonalities of our species, our humanity, from them.

All their descendantsBantu, Berber, Aztec, Aboriginal, Tamil, San, Han, Maori, Inuit, Irishshare certain peculiar behaviors absent in other great apes. All human cultures form long-term pair bonds between men and women to care for children. We sing and dance. We make art. We preen our hair, adorn our bodies with ornaments, tattoos and makeup.

We craft shelters. We wield fire and complex tools. We form large, multigenerational social groups with dozens to thousands of people. We cooperate to wage war and help each other. We teach, tell stories, trade. We have morals, laws. We contemplate the stars, our place in the cosmos, lifes meaning, what follows death.

The details of our tools, fashions, families, morals and mythologies vary from tribe to tribe and culture to culture, but all living humans show these behaviors. That suggests these behaviorsor at least, the capacity for themare innate. These shared behaviors unite all people. Theyre the human condition, what it means to be human, and they result from shared ancestry.

We inherited our humanity from peoples in southern Africa 300,000 years ago. The alternativethat everyone, everywhere coincidentally became fully human in the same way at the same time, starting 65,000 years agoisnt impossible, but a single origin is more likely.

Archaeology and biology may seem to disagree, but they actually tell different parts of the human story. Bones and DNA tell us about brain evolution, our hardware. Tools reflect brainpower, but also culture, our hardware and software.

Just as you can upgrade your old computers operating system, culture can evolve even if intelligence doesnt. Humans in ancient times lacked smartphones and spaceflight, but we know from studying philosophers such as Buddha and Aristotle that they were just as clever. Our brains didnt change, our culture did.

That creates a puzzle. If Pleistocene hunter-gatherers were as smart as us, why did culture remain so primitive for so long? Why did we need hundreds of millennia to invent bows, sewing needles, boats? And what changed? Probably several things.

First, we journeyed out of Africa, occupying more of the planet. There were then simply more humans to invent, increasing the odds of a prehistoric Steve Jobs or Leonardo da Vinci. We also faced new environments in the Middle East, the Arctic, India, Indonesia, with unique climates, foods and dangers, including other human species. Survival demanded innovation.

Many of these new lands were far more habitable than the Kalahari or the Congo. Climates were milder, but Homo sapiens also left behind African diseases and parasites. That let tribes grow larger, and larger tribes meant more heads to innovate and remember ideas, more manpower, and better ability to specialize. Population drove innovation.

Beijing from space. Image credit: NASA

This triggered feedback cycles. As new technologies appeared and spreadbetter weapons, clothing, sheltershuman numbers could increase further, accelerating cultural evolution again.

Numbers drove culture, culture increased numbers, accelerating cultural evolution, on and on, ultimately pushing human populations to outstrip their ecosystems, devastating the megafauna and forcing the evolution of farming. Finally, agriculture caused an explosive population increase, culminating in civilizations of millions of people. Now, cultural evolution kicked into hyperdrive.

Artifacts reflect culture, and cultural complexity is an emergent property. That is, its not just individual-level intelligence that makes cultures sophisticated, but interactions between individuals in groups, and between groups. Like networking millions of processors to make a supercomputer, we increased cultural complexity by increasing the number of people and the links between them.

So our societies and world evolved rapidly in the past 300,000 years, while our brains evolved slowly. We expanded our numbers to almost eight billion, spread across the globe, reshaped the planet. We did it not by adapting our brains but by changing our cultures. And much of the difference between our ancient, simple hunter-gatherer societies and modern societies just reflects the fact that there are lots more of us and more connections between us.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

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When Did We Become Fully Human? What Fossils and DNA Tell Us About the Evolution of Modern Intelligence - Singularity Hub

This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through October 17) – Singularity Hub

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

A Radical New Technique Lets AI Learn With Practically No DataKaren Hao | MIT Technology ReviewShown photos of a horse and a rhino, and told a unicorn is something in between, [children] can recognize the mythical creature in a picture book the first time they see it. Now a new paper from the University of Waterloo in Ontario suggests that AI models should also be able to do thisa process the researchers call less than one-shot, or LO-shot, learning.

Artificial General Intelligence: Are We Close, and Does It Even Make Sense to Try?Will Douglas Heaven | MIT Technology ReviewA machine that could think like a person has been the guiding vision of AI research since the earliest daysand remains its most divisive idea. So why is AGI controversial? Why does it matter? And is it a reckless, misleading dreamor the ultimate goal?

The Race for a Super-Antibody Against the CoronavirusApoorva Mandavilli | The New York TimesDozens of companies and academic groups are racing to develop antibody therapies. But some scientists are betting on a dark horse: Prometheus, a ragtag group of scientists who are months behind in the competitionand yet may ultimately deliver the most powerful antibody.

How to Build a Spacecraft to Save the WorldDaniel Oberhaus | WiredThe goal of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, is to slam the [spacecraft] into a small asteroid orbiting a larger asteroid 7 million miles from Earth. It should be able to change the asteroids orbit just enough to be detectable from Earth, demonstrating that this kind of strike could nudge an oncoming threat out of Earths way. Beyond that, everything is just an educated guess, which is exactly why NASA needs to punch an asteroid with a robot.

Inside Gravitys Daring Mission to Make Jetpacks a RealityOliver Franklin-Wallis | WiredThe first time someone flies a jetpack, a curious thing happens: just as their body leaves the ground, their legs start to flail. Its as if the vestibular system cant quite believe whats happening. This isnt natural. Then suddenly, thrust exceeds weight, andtheyre aloft. Its that moment, lift-off, that has given jetpacks an enduring appeal for over a century.

Inside Singapores Huge Bet on Vertical FarmingMegan Tatum | MIT Technology Reviewto cram all [of Singapores] gleaming towers and nearly 6 million people into a land mass half the size of Los Angeles, it has sacrificed many things, including food production. Farms make up no more than 1% of its total land (in the United States its 40%), forcing the small city-state to shell out around $10 billion each year importing 90% of its food. Here was an example of technology that could change all that.

The Effort to Build the Mathematical Library of the FutureKevin Hartnett | QuantaDigitizing mathematics is a longtime dream. The expected benefits range from the mundanecomputers grading students homeworkto the transcendent: using artificial intelligence to discover new mathematics and find new solutions to old problems.

Image credit:Kevin Mueller /Unsplash

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Black holes at the center of 2020 Nobel Prize in physics astrophysicist explains why its a big deal – The Next Web

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Black holes are perhaps the most mysterious objects in nature. They warp space and time in extreme ways and contain a mathematical impossibility, a singularity an infinitely hot and dense object within. But if black holes exist and are truly black, how exactly would we ever be able to make an observation?

This morning the Nobel Committee announced that the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics will be awarded to three scientists Sir Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez who helped discover the answers to such profound questions. Andrea Ghez is only the fourth woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics.

Robert Penrose is a theoretical physicist who works on black holes, and his work has influenced not just me but my entire generation through his series of popular books that are loaded with his exquisite hand-drawn illustrations of deep physical concepts.

As a graduate student in the 1990s at Penn State, where Penrose holds a visiting position, I had many opportunities to interact with him. For many years I was intimidated by this giant in my field, only stealing glimpses of him working in his office, sketching strange-looking scientific drawings on his blackboard. Later, when I finally got the courage to speak with him, I quickly realized that he is among the most approachable people around.

Sir Roger Penrose won half the prize for his seminal work in 1965 which proved, using a series of mathematical arguments, that under very general conditions, collapsing matter would trigger the formation of a black hole.

This rigorous result opened up the possibility that the astrophysical process of gravitational collapse, which occurs when a star runs out of its nuclear fuel, would lead to the formation of black holes in nature. He was also able to show that at the heart of a black hole must lie a physical singularity an object with infinite density, where the laws of physics simply break down. At the singularity, our very conceptions of space, time and matter fall apart and resolving this issue is perhaps the biggest open problem in theoretical physics today.

Penrose invented new mathematical concepts and techniques while developing this proof. Those equations that Penrose derived in 1965 have been used by physicists studying black holes ever since. In fact, just a few years later, Stephen Hawking, alongside Penrose, used the same mathematical tools to prove that the Big Bang cosmological model our current best model for how the entire universe came into existence had a singularity at the very initial moment. These are results from the celebrated Penrose-Hawking Singularity Theorem.

The fact that mathematics demonstrated that astrophysical black holes may exactly exist in nature is exactly what has energized the quest to search for them using astronomical techniques. Indeed, since Penroses work in the 1960s, numerous black holes have been identified.

The remaining half of the prize was shared between astronomers Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez, who each lead a team that discovered the presence of a supermassive black hole, 4 million times more massive than the Sun, at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Genzel is an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany and the University of California, Berkeley. Ghez is an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The location of the black hole in the Milky Way galaxy relative to our solar system. Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, CC BY-NC

Genzhel and Ghez used the worlds largest telescopes (Keck Observatory and the Very Large Telescope) and studied the movement of stars in a region called Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy. They both independently discovered that an extremely massive 4 million times more massive than our Sun invisible object is pulling on these stars, making them move in very unusual ways. This is considered the most convincing evidence of a black hole at the center of our galaxy.

This 2020 Nobel Prize, which follows on the heels of the 2017 Nobel Prize for the discovery of gravitational waves from black holes, and other recent stunning discoveries in the field such as the the 2019 image of a black hole horizon by the Event Horizon Telescope serve as great recognition and inspiration for all humankind, especially for those of us in the relativity and gravitation community who follow in the footsteps of Albert Einstein himself.

This article is republished from The ConversationbyGaurav Khanna, Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts Dartmouthunder a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Black holes at the center of 2020 Nobel Prize in physics astrophysicist explains why its a big deal - The Next Web

NASA’s About to Try Grabbing a Chunk of Asteroid to Bring to Earthand You Can Watch – Singularity Hub

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If youve seen the movie The Martian, you no doubt remember the rescue scene, in which (spoiler alert!) Matt Damon launches himself off Mars in a stripped-down rocket in hopes of his carefully-calculated trajectory taking him just close enough to his crew for them to pluck him from the void of outer space and bring him safely home to Earth. Theres a multitude of complex physics involved, and who knows how true-to-science the scene is, but getting the details right to successfully grab something in space certainly isnt easy.

So it will be fascinating to watch NASA aim to do just that, as its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft attempts to pocket a fistful of rock and dust from an asteroid called Bennu then ferry it back to Earthwith the whole endeavor broadcast live on NASAs website starting Tuesday, October 20 at 5pm Eastern time. Here are some details to know in advance.

Bennus full name is 101955 Bennu, and its close enough to Earth to be classified as a near-Earth object, or NEOthat means it orbits within 1.3 AU of the sun. An AU is equivalent to the distance between Earth and the sun, which is about 93 million miles. The asteroid orbits the sun at an average distance of 105 million miles, which is just (just being a relative term here!) 12 million miles farther than Earths average orbital distance from the sun.

Every six years, Bennu comes closer to Earth, getting to within 0.002 AU. Scientists say this means theres a high likelihood the asteroid could impact Earth sometime in the late 22nd century. Luckily, an international team is already on the case (plus, due to Bennus size and composition, it likely wouldnt do any harm).

Bennu isnt solid, but rather a loose clump of rock and dust whose density varies across its area (in fact, up to 40 percent of it might just be empty space!). Its shape is more similar to a spinning top than a basketball or other orb, and its not very bigabout a third of a mile wide at its widest point. Since its small, it spins pretty fast, doing a full rotation on its axis in less than four and a half hours. That fast spinning also means its likely to eject material once in a while, with chunks or rock and other regolith dislodging and being flung into space.

OSIRIS-REx stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer. Yeahthats a lot. Its the size of a large van (bigger than a minivan, smaller than a bus), and looks sort of like a box with wings and one long arm. Its been orbiting Bennu for about two years (since 2018) after taking two years to get there (it was launched in 2016).

The spacecrafts arm is called TAGSAM, which stands for Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism. Its 11 feet long and has a round collection chamber attached to its end.

OSIRIS-REx doesnt have any legs to land on, but thats for a good reason: landing isnt part of the plan. Which brings us to

As far as plans go, this one is pretty cool. The spacecraft will approach the asteroid, and its arm will reach out to tap the surface. A pressurized canister will shoot out some nitrogen gas to try to dislodge some dust and rock from Bennu, and the collection chamber on the spacecrafts arm will open up to grab whatever it can; scientists are hoping to get at least 60 grams worth of material (thats only 4 tablespoons! Its less than the cup of yogurt you eat in the morning!).

And thats not even the wildest detail; if the mission goes as planned and OSIRIS-REx scoops up those four tablespoons of precious cargo, scientists on Earth still wont see them for almost three more years; the spacecraft is scheduled for a parachute landing in the Utah desert on September 24, 2023.

The NASA team working on this project thinks its likely theyll find organic material in the sample collection, and it may even give them clues to the origins of life on Earth.

Does the mission have better odds of success than Matt Damons rescue in The Martian? Tune in on Tuesday to see for yourself.

Image Credit: NASA

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NASA's About to Try Grabbing a Chunk of Asteroid to Bring to Earthand You Can Watch - Singularity Hub

Weekender | Falling through the rabbit hole: A personal essay – Daily Californian

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Lost within a YouTube hole, I came across a silly, animated science video about black holes by Kurzgesagt In a Nutshell. A lot of what I heard went over my head, but I knew that the idea of black holes made me feel anxious, the way I feel in the ocean at night: so immensely swallowed that I lose myself.

These past seven months have left me reeling in a similar limbo. It feels as though there is no acting force of gravity keeping me on track. Time goes on and on and on and I am infinitely in disarray.

***

Some days I am exponentially radiating outward in all directions and there are endless possibilities. On other days I am taught that there is a limit to growth that is called Logistical and is Shaped like a Crooked Spine.

But what if I could just grow larger and larger and larger until the point of implosion, upon which all of that denseness of thought and energy and pure being could shrink into the size of a dust grain? Not diminished, but concentrated.

A black hole is a star that grew so massive iron bubbled up inside its core. The star, with its iron heart, sank and sank until its body couldnt hold up its burden. The child within me could read it as a story: The Star Who Got Too Big for its Britches, or maybe just the star who got lonely despite all of its mass and gravity.

Out and then in, like a giant breath.

I lie awake in bed, tense between the shoulder blades, finding breathing insufficient. I think about the giant stars that give in to their burdens and instead of release are brought into a concentrated agony. It is and isnt like drowning and waking on a cold mountain peak.

***

Located in the center of a black hole is whats known as a gravitational singularity, in which a huge mass exists in an infinitely small space. This gives the point infinite density and gravity, and it warps the curvature of the universe.

If we looked at a black hole, we wouldnt really see it. It is hidden behind the event horizon: a sphere of absolute darkness out of which nothing, not even light, escapes.

***

When I was younger my understanding of darkness was nothing more than fear of my own imagination, like when the lights turned off and I had to count the number of steps to my bed because there were unnamed terrors in the corners of the room. But my mother would come in and I would find that the monsters and dragons and ghouls were nothing but shadows playing on the wall, or a jacket hanging from the doorframe.

Darkness has changed since childhood. Now, Im not afraid of the monsters but of the emptiness when I reach my hand out and feel nothing. Its scarier when you find out your imagination is foolish and that darkness is mostly empty.

But black holes dont represent my cynical view of darkness. They arent emptiness or absence. A single point at the center of a black hole, so small it has a hypothetical volume of zero, holds multiple infinities. Why did I grow up to think my imagination was insufficient?

***

In reality, if I was to enter a black hole my body would be stretched out into a long string of plasma as it is drawn closer to the singularity. I would be funneled. The gravitational funnel inside a black hole is so strong that if a star were to stray too close, its entire mass could be ripped apart.

I think about the giant stars that give in to their burdens and instead of release are brought into a concentrated agony.

Nothing can escape a black hole once it passes the horizon, because turning back around would require a moving velocity faster than the speed of light. Incapable of turning back or to the side, you are committed to what seems a lot like fate. Rapid descent toward the point from which there is no return. Like tripping through the looking glass into an unavoidable future.

For spectators watching you enter a black hole, the time it takes to cross the event horizon seems infinite because they are never given the signal that you are gone. The phantom image of yourself reflects back on them for an infinite amount of time long after you have edged past the lip of blackness.

I could disappear with nobody knowing where and when I had gone. In thinking of this I feel lonely. And disconnected.

***

Stephen Hawking came up with a theory to describe how black holes lose energy. Its called Hawking Radiation, and it describes how black holes evaporate.

Over time, they lose an extremely tiny amount of matter, and for the largest black hole in our universe, it might take 10,100 years, at which point it would explode with an eruption energy 1,000 times the total nuclear capacity on Earth.

But at its cease, would the knowledge of that original star and all other matter caught within the event horizon really be lost? That seems sad to me.

Black holes seem like one of those indefatigable forces of the world. It is enough to know they are up there somewhere, a virginal presence, impenetrable. But even they, with their multitudes and carefully folded legs, cannot last forever. And here I was thinking that infinity was the same as eternity.

***

It is not particles that make up our universe, but information. Information arranges the elementary particles of existence. If you lose information, you lose the possibility of creation.

The conservation of quantum information or the no-hiding theorem states that information can neither be created nor destroyed. But for black holes, the line is blurry.

It was originally thought that information was lost forever in a black holes interminable void. But Hawking also came up with what is called the information paradox, and the thinking is as follows: What if, when something enters a black hole, it leaves behind a holographic projection of its life on the screen of the event horizon before it pushes through and into the funnel toward singularity?

It would be nice, I think, to leave behind my life, with all of its tangles, on the event horizon and have the molecules and elementary particles of my physical body enter the cosmic hodgepodge of singularity.

And what if every time a particle leaves the black hole thanks to Hawking Radiation it takes information away with it? Like walking into a library filled with trillions of books and walking away having read only one.

This theory would make black holes a movie of the universe. Fractaling toward origin or maybe infinity.

These days, its easier to think of myself in the third person, as if I was watching a film reel of the moments that would be harder to bear than to watch. It would be nice, I think, to leave behind my life, with all of its tangles, on the event horizon and have the molecules and elementary particles of my physical body enter the cosmic hodgepodge of singularity. I imagine it would be a lot like giving in. Like reincarnation into something whose existence is a lot more straightforward, or maybe just different.

***

But, alas, the nearest event horizon is 1,000 light-years from my room. My haphazard trail of thought isnt showing me any cosmic truth.

Our knowledge of black holes is nothing but logical conjecture, based on the absolutes we rely on to feel safe and comfortable.

We feel better knowing that science is reliable and that there are fundamental laws of our universe scrawled out on blackboards by geniuses with chalk on their slacks.

But logic makes breathing feel robotic, absolutes have failed me and safety is temporal.

***

I prefer to wonder about the unknown because maybe then I can stay hopeful. Maybe that black hole 1,000 light-years away contains worlds where I could be happy and held and something completely different from who I am here and now. I could be woman or otherwise, I could be two-dimensional and have no need to breathe and feel breathless. I could be a system of veins or connective tissue: a building block for something much larger than myself. I could be all my past lives all at once. I could be a supermodel or a supernova, a fetus or a mother of stars.

Contact Aliya Haas Blinman at [emailprotected].

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Weekender | Falling through the rabbit hole: A personal essay - Daily Californian

SCIENCE: A QUEST TO UNDERSTAND THE KNOWN UNIVERSE – DAWN.com

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Black holes are perhaps the most mysterious objects in nature. They warp space and time in extreme ways and contain a mathematical impossibility, a singularity an infinitely hot and dense object within. But if black holes exist and are truly black, how exactly would we ever be able to make an observation?

On October 6, the Nobel Committee announced that the2020 Nobel Prize in physicswill be awarded to three scientists Sir Roger Penrose,Reinhard GenzelandAndrea Ghez who helped discover the answers to such profound questions. Andrea Ghez is only the fourth woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics.

Penroseis a theoretical physicist who works on black holes, and his work has influenced not just me but my entire generation through hisseries of popular booksthat are loaded with his exquisite hand-drawn illustrations of deep physical concepts.

As a graduate student in the 1990s at Penn State, where Penrose holds a visiting position, I had many opportunities to interact with him. For many years, I was intimidated by this giant in my field, only stealing glimpses of him working in his office, sketching strange-looking scientific drawings on his blackboard. Later, when I finally got the courage to speak with him, I quickly realised that he is among the most approachable people around.

Dying stars form black holes

Penrosewon half the prize for his seminal work in 1965 which proved, using a series of mathematical arguments that, under very general conditions, collapsing matter would trigger the formation of a black hole.

This rigorous result opened up the possibility that the astrophysical process of gravitational collapse, which occurs when a star runs out of its nuclear fuel, would lead to the formation of black holes in nature. He was also able to show that at the heart of a black hole must lie a physical singularity an object with infinite density, where the laws of physics simply break down. At the singularity, our very conceptions of space, time and matter fall apart and resolving this issue is perhaps the biggest open problem in theoretical physics today.

This years Nobel Prize winners in physics led the discovery of the presence of a black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy

Penroseinvented new mathematical concepts and techniqueswhile developing this proof. Those equations that Penrose derived in 1965 have been used by physicists studying black holes ever since. In fact, just a few years later, Stephen Hawking, alongside Penrose, used the same mathematical tools to prove that the Big Bang cosmological model our current best model for how the entire universe came into existence had a singularity at the very initial moment. These are results from the celebrated Penrose-Hawkingsingularity theorem.

The fact that mathematics demonstrated that astrophysical black holes may exactly exist in nature is exactly what has energised the quest to search for them using astronomical techniques. Indeed, since Penroses work in the 1960s, numerous black holes have been identified.

Black holes play yo-yo with stars

The remaining half of the prize was shared between astronomers Genzel and Ghez, who each lead a team that discovered the presence of a supermassive black hole, four million times more massive than the Sun, at thecentre of our Milky Way galaxy.

Genzel is an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany and the University of California, Berkeley. Ghez is an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Genzel and Ghez used the worlds largest telescopes (Keck Observatory and the Very Large Telescope) and studied the movement of stars in a region called Sagittarius A* at the centre of our galaxy. They both independently discovered that an extremely massive four million times more massive than our Sun invisible object is pulling on these stars, making them move in very unusual ways. This is considered the most convincing evidence of a black hole at the centre of our galaxy.

This 2020 Nobel Prize, which follows on the heels of the 2017 Nobel Prize for the discovery of gravitational waves from black holes, and other recent stunning discoveries in the field such as the the2019 image of a black hole horizonby the Event Horizon Telescope serves as great recognition and inspiration for all humankind, especially for those of us in the relativity and gravitation community, who follow in the footsteps of Albert Einstein.

The writer is a professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth

This article was republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons licence

Published in Dawn, EOS, Octoberr 18th, 2020

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SCIENCE: A QUEST TO UNDERSTAND THE KNOWN UNIVERSE - DAWN.com

Physicists keep trying to break the rules of gravity but this supermassive black hole just said ‘no’ – Live Science

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A new test of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity has proved the iconic physicist right again this time by re-analyzing the famous first-ever picture of a black hole , which was released in April 2019.

That image of the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87 was the first direct observation of a black hole's shadow the imprint of the event horizon, a sphere around the black hole's singularity from which no light can escape. Einstein's theory predicts the size of the event horizon based on the mass of the black hole; and in April 2019, it was already clear that the shadow fits general relativity's prediction pretty well.

But now, using a new technique to analyze the image, the researchers who made the picture showed just how well the shadow fits the theory. The answer: 500 times better than any test of relativity done in our solar system. That result, in turn, puts tighter limits on any theory that would seek to reconcile general relativity, which describes the behavior of massive celestial objects, with quantum mechanics, which predicts the behavior of very small things.

General relativity's great accomplishment was to describe how gravity operates in the universe: how it pulls objects toward each other; how it warps space-time; and how it forms black holes. To test general relativity, scientists use the theory to predict how gravity will act in a certain situation. Then, they observe what actually happens. If the prediction matches the observation, general relativity has passed its test.

But no test is perfect. Watch how the sun's gravity tugs Mercury along its orbit, and you can measure general relativity in action. But telescopes can't measure the movement of Mercury down to the nanometer. And other forces the tug of Jupiter's gravity, and Earth's gravity and the force solar wind, to name just a few impact Mercury's movement in ways that are difficult to separate from the effects of relativity. So the result of every test is an approximation and Einstein's theory is only proven more or less.

Related: 8 ways you can see Einstein's Theory of Relativity in real life

The size of that uncertainty the "more or less" factor is important. When scientists test general relativity over and over, they are putting constraints on Einstein's idea. The reason this work is important is that even though general relativity keeps passing tests, physicists do expect it to eventually fail.

General relativity must be incomplete, physicists believe, because it contradicts quantum mechanics. Physicists believe that discrepancy signals the presence in our universe of some larger, all-encompassing mechanism describing both gravity and the quantum world that they have yet to uncover. Looking for cracks in relativity, they hope, might turn up clues to help them find that complete theory."We expect a complete theory of gravity to be different from general relativity, but there are many ways one can modify it," University of Arizona astrophysicist Dimitrios Psaltis said in a statement. Psaltis is lead author of a paper published Oct. 1 in the journal Physical Review Letters describing this new test, and is part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team, responsible for imaging the M87 black hole's shadow.

In this new test, Psaltis and colleagues used a computer to generate artificial images of the M87 black hole based on a modified version of gravity, where the force of gravity is weaker or stronger at the event horizon. With that weakened-gravity scenario, they asked,how large or small would that black hole's event horizon be? What about with stronger gravity? Then, they checked how many of those possible modifications produced event horizons with sizes that matched that of the image EHT actually captured of M87. Some did, their slight variances from general relativity's predictions much too small to show up in the admittedly fuzzy snap of the black hole. But the vast majority did not.

Related: The 12 strangest objects in the universe

"Using the gauge we developed, we showed that the measured size of the black hole shadow in M87 tightens the wiggle room for modifications to Einstein's theory of general relativity by almost a factor of 500, compared to previous tests in the solar system," University of Arizona astrophysicist Feryal zel, another study co-author and EHT scientist, said in the statement.

Most alternative ways that gravity might work that they considered theories that violate Einstein's general relativity don't fit within this newly narrowed wiggle room.

In the future, the EHT researchers said, they might be able to tighten that wiggle room even further.

The EHT is a network of radio telescopes all over the world that work together to produce the sharpest possible images of supermassive black holes objects that, while large, are much too small and dim for any one telescope to resolve on its own. So far, the EHT has just published one image of one black hole, in M87. But there's another, smaller black hole in our own neighborhood that the collaboration should be able to image: Sagittarius A*, the supermassive at the center of the Milky Way.

As the EHT has trained its army of radio telescopes on this more nearby target, they've refined their theoretical technique and added new telescopes to the collaboration. The next image they produce, they say, should constrain general relativity even further.

Or maybe they'll see something Einstein didn't predict at all.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Physicists keep trying to break the rules of gravity but this supermassive black hole just said 'no' - Live Science

Physics prize centuries in the making – Prince George Citizen

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First published in 1686, Newtons Law of Gravitation laid the foundation for modern physics: that every particle in the universe is attracted to and attracted by every other particle changed the way scientists and mathematicians viewed the world. But could gravity hold onto light?

The speed of light is finite and represents an upper limit to velocity in our present understanding. The idea, then, that a star could be so massive that its escape velocity would be greater than the speed of light first occurred to the English astronomer and priest John Michell in 1783. Michell calculated that a star 500 times larger than the Sun but with the same density would have a gravitational pull so large its light would be trapped. In 1796, the French polymath Pierre-Simon Laplace came to the same conclusion but for a star only 250 times larger than the sun.

Both scientists had essentially outlined the object we now call a black hole but it really wasnt until Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity in 1915 that the idea took hold. Within two months of its publication, the German astrophysicists Karl Schwarzschild was able to wade through the complicated mathematical equations and provide the first theoretical description of a black hole using general relativity. He provided a solution to Einsteins equation describing the curvature of space-time around a spherically symmetric, non-rotating mass.

Schwarzschilds metric provided a practical approach for tests of general relativity, such as the precession of Mercurys perihelion, the gravitational bending of light, or the confirmation of gravitational time dilation. But the equation also demanded the existence of two extraordinary points. The first being at a radius of zero (r = 0) which corresponds to a true singularity while the second so-called Schwarzschild singularity corresponded to a distance, R, much further from the origin (R = 2GM/c^2). We now know the latter as the event horizon. It is the sphere surrounding a black hole representing the point-of-no-return. It defines the region of space-time isolated from the rest of the universe.

In 1939, the American physicist Robert Oppenheimer, with his student Hartland Snyder, were studying the collapse of a spherical cloud of matter and realized the importance of the Schwarzschild radius: The star thus tends to close itself off from any communication with a distant observer; only its gravitational field persists. But their results were predicated on spherical symmetry and for many years arguments were presented refuting the premise. Indeed, American physicist John Wheeler speculated quantum mechanics would prevent the collapse of space-time to a singularity.

In the late 1950s, compact and powerful radio sources were identified in all-sky surveys with no detectable visible counterpart. These objects were labeled quasars short for quasi-stellar radio objects. In the early 1960s, optical astronomers were finally able to identify extragalactic visible objects associated with quasars. Because of the distances involved, their luminosity would need to be 1,000 times greater than the output from all the stars in our entire galaxy. Quasars were originally postulated as supermassive stars but their size meant they would be extremely unstable. The question became could they be black holes?

The discovery of quasars prompted Wheeler to reconsider the notion of gravitational collapse and the formation of singularities. He discussed his ideas with Roger Penrose who set out to analyze what would happened without the assumption of spherical symmetry. He only needed to assume the collapsing matter had a positive energy density.

But to do this, he need to invent a new mathematics built on the concept of trapped surfaces two-dimensional surfaces with the property that all light rays orthogonal to the surface converge when tracked toward the future, regardless of the curvature of the surface. Schwarzschilds spherical symmetry is just a special case of Penroses mathematics. Penrose had provided the mathematics for describing black holes and so for his discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity, Roger Penrose has been awarded half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The other half goes to two astronomers Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez, who followed a prediction made by John Michell in 1783. Michell wrote: If any other luminous bodies would happen to revolve around them [super-massive stars] we might still perhaps from the motions of these revolving bodies infer the existence of the central ones with some degree of probability.

Michell realized a super-massive star a black hole might be invisible but its effect on any surrounding bodies might give it away. Genzel and Ghez have each spent the last 30 years examining the core of our galaxy and for their work plotting stellar orbits in the core, they have been awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.

We are orbiting a massive black hole that may one day consume us all.

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Alphabet’s New Moonshot Is to Transform How We Grow Food – Singularity Hub

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In the 1940s, agronomist Norman Borlaug was tasked by the US government with improving the yield of wheat plants in Mexico. The thinking was that if Americas southern neighbor had better food security, relations between the two countries would improve, and fewer migrants would cross the US border.

At that time, a plant disease called stem rust was ravaging crops in Mexico and parts of the US, depleting harvests and causing panic among farmers. Borlaug started crossbreeding seeds in hopes of stumbling upon a genetic combination that was resistant to stem rust and produced a high yield. Over the course of three years, Borlaug and his assistants pollinated and inspected hundreds of thousands of plants by hand: 110,000 in just one growing season.

Their work paid off; the resulting wheat seeds produced three times more yield on the same amount of land. Borlaug is known as the father of the Green Revolution, and was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

With the global population growing while climate change begins to impact our ability to produce food, many are calling for a 21st-century Green Revolution. In short, we need to figure out better ways to grow food, and fast.

This week a tech powerhouse joined the effort. Google parent company Alphabets X divisioninternally called the moonshot factoryannounced a project called Mineral, launched to develop technologies for a more sustainable, resilient, and productive food system.

The way we grow crops now, the project page explains, works pretty well, but its not ideal. Dozens or hundreds of acres of a given crop are treated the same across the board, fertilized and sprayed with various chemicals to kill pests and weeds. We get the yields we needs with this method, but at the same time were progressively depleting the soil by pumping it full of the same chemicals year after year, and in the process were making our own food less nutrient-rich. Its kind of a catch-22; this is the best way to grow the most food, but the quality of that food is getting worse.

But maybe theres a better wayand Mineral wants to find it.

Like many things nowadays, the key to building something better is data. Genetic data, weather pattern data, soil composition and erosion data, satellite data The list goes on. As part of the massive data-gathering that will need to be done, X introduced what its calling a plant buggy (if the term makes you picture a sort of baby stroller for plants, youre not alone).

It is in fact not a stroller, though. It looks more like a platform on wheels, topped with solar panels and stuffed with cameras, sensors, and software. It comes in different sizes and shapes so that it can be used on multiple types of crops (inspecting tall, thin stalks of corn, for example, requires a different setup than short, bushy soybean plants). The buggy will collect info about plants height, leaf area, and fruit size, then consider it alongside soil, weather, and other data.

Having this type of granular information, Mineral hopes, will allow farmers to treat different areas of their fields or even specific plants individually rather than using blanket solutions that may be good for some plants, but bad for others.

Its sort of like the quantified self trend in healthcare; all of our bodies are different, as are our genomes and the factors likely to make us ill; by gathering as much data as possible about ourselves and monitoring our bodies various systems, we can customize our diets, medications, exercise, and lifestyles to what will work best for us, rather than whats likely to work best for the average person.

In a blog post about Mineral, project lead Elliott Grant asks, What if every single plant could be monitored and given exactly the nutrition it needed? What if we could untangle the genetic and environmental drivers of crop yield? What if we could measure the subtle ways a plant responds to its environment? He and his team hope that tools like those being developed as part of Mineral will help the agriculture industry transform how food is grown.

There are all sorts of projectsall over the worlddevoted to the future of food, from cultured meat and fish to nanoparticles that help plants grow in the desert to factories raising millions of bugs for protein. Google X has taken on some ambitious goals and hasnt disappointed, so with Mineral joining the effort, we may see another Green Revolution in the not-too-distant future.

Image Credit: Mineral/X

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The Increasing Role of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: Will Ro | IJGM – Dove Medical Press

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Abdullah Shuaib1,, Husain Arian,1 Ali Shuaib2

1Department of General Surgery, Jahra Hospital, Jahra, Kuwait; 2Biomedical Engineering Unit, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait

Dr Abdullah Shuaib passed away on July 21, 2020

Correspondence: Ali ShuaibBiomedical Engineering Unit, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, KuwaitTel +965 24636786Email ali.shuaib@ku.edu.kw

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) pertains to the ability of computers or computer-controlled machines to perform activities that demand the cognitive function and performance level of the human brain. The use of AI in medicine and health care is growing rapidly, significantly impacting areas such as medical diagnostics, drug development, treatment personalization, supportive health services, genomics, and public health management. AI offers several advantages; however, its rampant rise in health care also raises concerns regarding legal liability, ethics, and data privacy. Technological singularity (TS) is a hypothetical future point in time when AI will surpass human intelligence. If it occurs, TS in health care would imply the replacement of human medical practitioners with AI-guided robots and peripheral systems. Considering the pace at which technological advances are taking place in the arena of AI, and the pace at which AI is being integrated with health care systems, it is not be unreasonable to believe that TS in health care might occur in the near future and that AI-enabled services will profoundly augment the capabilities of doctors, if not completely replace them. There is a need to understand the associated challenges so that we may better prepare the health care system and society to embrace such a change if it happens.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, technological singularity, health care system

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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The Increasing Role of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: Will Ro | IJGM - Dove Medical Press

BTS V solo song Singularity and fan edit fmv once again gone viral among locals and also caught attention of people with his BBMA performance -…

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BTS member V, who is known as the 'Ultimate Stan Attractor' of the K-pop industry, is going viral once again as non K-pop fans are falling for his insane vocal talent with his chart-topping solo track, Singularity.

BTS member V became a viral sensation among non-K-pop fans, once again.

Since the day Taehyung's Singularity was released it always caught the attention of non-fans and local with Taehyung's unique voice and insane visuals.

As Taehyung went viral on Twitter after his BBMA performance, a fan edit of Taehyung along with song singularity went viral.

Non-K-pop fans went gaga after the song asking about it and going feral over Taehyung for his insane vocal skills and charming personality. Twitter was flooded with messages about the 24-year-old singer and Singularity. Not that we blame them in the least!this is not the first time Taehyung song singularity went viral and caught the attention of people.

Not only Taehyung and his song singularity went viral on SNS but "THE ULTIMATE STAN ATTRACTOR OF KPOP INDUSTRY KIM TAEHYUNG " caught the attention of people around the world after BBMA 2020 performance with his unique voice and expression, perfect dance moves, stage presence, and with god gifted visuals.

Even fans can't stop themselves from praising Taehyung for his stage presence and the way he set fire on stage with his Dynamite performance.

SNS is flooded with tweets praising Taehyung.

And this the reason why Taehyung is named "Commander in charge of tripling the size of fandom", "GLOBAL VISUAL REPRESENTATIVE OF KPOP" and "ULTIMATE STAN ATTRACTOR OF KPOP INDUSTRY " and he always keeps up to his name by his stage presence after every performance.

Now fans are wondering what Taehyung has in store for them for his next performance.

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BTS V solo song Singularity and fan edit fmv once again gone viral among locals and also caught attention of people with his BBMA performance -...

To lockdown or not to lockdown: how about we actually follow the science for a change? – Reaction

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With a few notable exceptions, the level of scientific discourse within the political and journalistic classes is abysmal. And for those with a sense of humour, Im going to prove this by anecdote. A well-known journalist recently referred publicly to the spread of Covid-19 as being only mildly exponential. This is about as meaningless a statement as could possibly be. And as for the politicians well, dont get me started. Professor Sunetra Guptas emphatic take-down of the Health Secretarys recent mansplaining about the undesirability of herd immunity was far too polite.

It is worth reminding ourselves of how the scientific method is supposed to work. First, you put up a hypothesis. Second, you try and disprove it. If you successfully do this, you have a definitive answer (your hypothesis was wrong). If you fail to disprove your theory, then your hypothesis stands. But the corollary is not true: you cant prove a non time-limited hypothesis.

A hypothesis that does stands the test of time by dint of not being disproved becomes universally accepted as a good hypothesis. Borrowing cinematic language, it becomes canon. However, long-lasting hypotheses can have spectacular falls from grace because a good hypothesis has to explain all observed facts a single proven discrepancy is enough to consign it to the bin.

Still, a scientific theory that works well for us most of the time may still be useful, even if it is found to have a big hole in it such as classical electromagnetism finding it rather difficult to explain point charges (the problem literally being a hole singularity in the theory). Thus, the scientific method the incremental ruling out of hypotheses by experiment and review by peers has served mankind well in recent centuries.

The concept of some theories standing the test of time better than others was beautifully captured by Sir Arthur Eddington: If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwells equations then so much the worse for Maxwells equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the Second Law of Thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it (but) to collapse in deepest humiliation.

A dystopian vision of science in 2020

Reluctantly, though, we need to move on from sharing nuggets of wisdom from long-departed rational luminaries and consider the problems of the day. A new type of science has emerged during the coronavirus pandemic, one more palatable to those who wish to consume information in very small corpuscles. It involves capturing the imagination with nightmarish visions of Armageddon, and evidencing these doomsday scenarios with proof from a computer modeller. The souffl of fear is then leavened with a barrage of carefully selected facts and a smattering of non-representative samples.

Rinse, repeat, and in the blink of an eye we find ourselves in a totally new world. The concept of mass hysteria is not new to the human race, but perhaps navely we all thought that our society might have developed some (herd?) immunity to such phenomena.

The scientific method in its true sense seems to have been abandoned by too many in this crisis. In the face of fast-moving events in early 2020, various scientists rushed to put forward competing theories in an attempt to diagnose the problem. Despite very nasty outbreaks of Covid-19 in certain concentrated geographies, which was itself due to the very rapid (and exponential) spread of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, these fizzled out relatively quickly. In the cases of Wuhan in China and Bergamo in Italy, this correlated with the imposition of aggressive policies of restrictions of movement. But as many at the time point out, this did not mean that the now ubiquitous lockdowns were the cause of this fizzling.

Scientists that postulated alternative hypotheses for this rapid drop-off in cases based on the observation that this behaviour was akin to the spread of a virus that was struggling to find susceptible people to infect were given short shrift. Or, to be more accurate, they were absolutely monstered. For instance, John Ioannidis, a Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Population Health from Stanford University, was essentially ostracised for presenting early data that put the infection fatality rate lower than the merchants of doom were using to sell their wares.

Instead, we listened carefully to the panicked demands of those urging our government to shut down the economy to save lives.

As a thesis, lockdowns save lives is unproven. A good thesis needs to explain all observed facts, or it is disproved by inspection. Brutal lockdowns have had high death rates and still not suppressed the virus; areas of relatively low restrictions have had fewer excess deaths.

And now? The World Health Organisation has just published a peer-reviewed paper by Professor Ioannidis that states: the inferred infection fatality rates tended to be much lower than estimates made earlier in the pandemic and most locations probably have an infection fatality rate less than 0.20% and with appropriate, precise non-pharmacological measures that selectively try to protect high-risk vulnerable populations and settings, the infection fatality rate may be brought even lower.

Perhaps we would have been better off following the science in the first place.

We owe it to the most vulnerable, the sick, those less fortunate in life to give everyone the best possible deal. Lockdowns, circuit breakers, increased measures, higher risk tiers are just about tolerable for those haves who can afford it. But the have nots and the have not much time left might well question whether these are in any way proportional measures. This is especially so for a virus SARS-CoV-2 that seems to have reached a state of what is called endemic equilibrium in many parts of the world (and quite likely in the UK).

Science reminds us that correlation does not imply causation. The blanket, draconian separation of us social beings with a great lockdown didnt work last time, and therefore we cannot say it will work this time. A more credible hypothesis as proposed by various scientists back in the early days of this crisis is that Covid-19 is not the killer the misguided and the doomsday cultists made it out to be. Clearly, my heart goes out to all those affected by the tragedies that befall us mortal beings, but some of the terrible consequences of our lockdown strategies for cancer sufferers are horrific. In these straitened times, we need to consider very carefully where the areas of greatest risk are.

So, let me put up a hypothesis. If (1) the rise in respiratory disease and hospitalisations caused by SARS-CoV-2 perhaps adjusted for regional differences approximates a linear uptick in line with the usual rise we see every year, and (2) we are chasing asymptomatic people round the country with a non-specific testing regime, then any rise in cases of coronavirus are actually a sign that the virus is in endemic equilibrium. In this case, we would be decreasing the likelihood of a devastating outbreak during the winter, by letting it spread naturally linearly through the healthy population now.

This hypothesis is consistent with observed facts. Prove me wrong.

If only we had Sir Arthur with us today. He might have helped us to be guided by the scientific method rather than this terrible politicisation ofthe science we are currently experiencing.

Dr Alex Starling is an advisor to and non-executive director of various early-stage technology companies.

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To lockdown or not to lockdown: how about we actually follow the science for a change? - Reaction