Category Science

Why is the box jellyfish so dangerous?

 

BOX JELLYFISH

The box jellyfish can perhaps be regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in the sea because of the deadly venom produced by some species. They dwell in the warm coastal marine waters. The deadliest species is the Chironex fleckeri or the Australian box jellyfish. It is also the largest species among the box jellyfish. The venom is considered deadly because of the toxins that can attack the nervous system, skin and heart. Death is known to occur quickly. Also called sea wasps and marine stingers, the box jellyfish are pale blue and transparent in colour. One look at the marine creature and you will know why it received the unique name. The distinct cube-like shape of their bell is how the name came about. Another interesting fact about box jellyfish is that they are highly advanced when compared to other jellyfish rather than drifting. They have developed the ability to move.

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Is the inland or western taipan oxyuranus microlepidotus?

Native to central Australia, the Inland Taipan snake usually lives in desert areas. Also called a fierce snake, the Inland Taipan is the world’s most venomous snake. The venom of the snake is very potent with experts noting that a drop of the snake’s venom is enough to kill 100 people. The snake is quite shy and encounters with humans are rare. The venom is so powerful that it could kill the victim within hours if medical treatment is not given.

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What is a real life example of extinction?

We are in the middle of a mass extinction brought about by human activity.

What is mass extinction?                       

A vast number of species going extinct at one period in time is called mass extinction. It is also known as a biotic crisis, as it leads to a decline in the world’s biodiversity. In a mass extinction, species disappear faster than they are replaced by new species.

What are the causes of mass extinction?

Earlier extinctions took place due to natural causes like global climate change, fluctuating sea levels and catastrophic events like volcanic eruptions or asteroid impacts. However, the ongoing extinction is the result of human actions.

How many mass extinction events have occurred on the Earth?

The Ordovician-Silurian extinction, 444 million year ago; the Devonian extinction, 360 million years ago; the  Permian extinction, 250 million years ago; the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, 201 million years ago; and the Cretaceous extinction, 65 million years ago. The first eliminated marine invertebrates, the second, tropical marine species. The third and the largest decimated most of the marine species and many terrestrial vertebrates, and the fourth destroyed all the Triassic reptiles. The fifth last was most likely caused by an asteroid hitting the Earth. It killed off dinosaurs of all species, including the remaining non-avian dinosaurs.

Are we facing a sixth mass extinction?

At present, we are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction, the Holocene extinction, which is entirely caused by the humans. It started 10,000 years ago with the beginning of agriculture and industrialization. Human activities like deforestation, climate change, and pollution have been major contributors.

These events wipe out numerous species, reshaping ecosystems and allowing the evolution of new species. They can disrupt habitats, biodiversity, ecological stru and food chains.

What is the impact of mass extinctions?

These events wipe out numerous species, reshaping ecosystems and allowing the evolution of new species. They can disrupt habitats, biodiversity, ecological structure and food chains.

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What will replace the ISS in 2031?

The International Space Station or ISS is to be deorbited by 2031. Where will it go? Satellites and spacecraft are machines, similar to washing machines and vacuum cleaners. They will not last forever. It doesn’t matter what job they do, whether it’s to observe weather, measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, or study the stars. All space machines grow old, wear out and die.

For satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), engineers use the last bit of fuel to slow it down. When the fuel runs out, it falls out of orbit and burns up in the atmosphere. The satellites in very high orbits are sent even further away from Earth, since more fuel is required to bring them down! These satellites are sent into a so-called ‘graveyard orbit, almost 36,000 km above Earth. Space stations and large spacecraft that are in LEO are too large to incinerate entirely on re-entry. So the deorbiting is monitored closely to ensure the debris falls on a remote, uninhabited area. There is an area like this. It’s nicknamed ‘spacecraft cemetery’ and it lies in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean at a spot called Point Nemo. (‘Nemo’ is Latin for ‘nobody’.) Point Nemo is so remote that the ISS will meet its watery grave there. It is considered ideal for dumping space debris as the waters are said to be poor in nutrients and biodiversity. No one has really studied the marine life or lack of it in Point Nemo. Environmentalists fear that in addition to the space junk already present in Point Nemo, the ISS debris will add tons of experimental equipment, materials and even traces of altered human DNA.  

What do driverless cars use to determine the best route or course of action when travelling from one location to the next?

From finding the fastest path to a cafe to self-driving cars, modern necessities and benefits rely upon something that many take for granted: the Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS is so deeply ingrained into our daily lives that it’s difficult to picture a world without it, but did you know where it came from?

The origin of GPS

In the middle of the 1960s, the US Navy experimented with satellite navigation to follow U.S. submarines that were carrying nuclear weapons. The Department of Defence (DOD) decided to employ satellites to support their scheduled navigation system in the early 1970s because they wanted to make sure that it was a reliable, stable system, based on previous ideas from navy scientists. In 1978, the Department of Defence launched the first Navigation System with Timing and Ranging (NAVSTAR) satellite which later changed into GPS. In 1993, the 24-satellite constellation went into full functioning. It was initially intended to replace earlier navigation systems and locate military transportation equipment worldwide with accuracy. Over time, the GPS evolved into an easily available, free device that improves daily safety and comfort together

The Pioneers behind GPS

Despite being created by the U.S. Department of Defence, a few scientists have been recognized as having made significant contributions to this ground-breaking technology. Roger L. Easton led the Space Application division of the Naval Research Laboratory. Timing technology and circular orbits are two of the most important aspects of GPS that he specialised in as a Cold War scientist. As the first manager of the Navstar GPS programme, Brad Parkinson contributed to the program’s conception and early to mid-stage implementation. Dr. Ivan Getting was the founding president of The Aerospace Corporation and drove the GPS’s launch. To pinpoint their precise location, Dr. Gladys West first worked at the U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory, where she calculated equations and analyzed satellite data.

How Does GPS Work?

Satellites, ground stations, and receivers make up the three components of the GPS. 13 satellites transmit radio signals that provide precise time and location derived from onboard atomic clocks. At a speed of 300,000 kilometres per second or the speed of light, these signals travel across space. The precise location of these satellites is verified by ground stations by receiving their signals. A computer, an atomic clock, and a radio are installed on every satellite. It continuously sends its position and time shifts since it recognizes the Earth’s orbit and the clock. The scientific use of the GPS is offering historically beyond-reach data in exceptional amounts and with extraordinary clarity. The movement of the polar ice sheets, the tectonic plates of Earth, and volcanic activity are all being measured by scientists using GPS. Ever wondered how birds find their way?

If you were lost in the middle of the woods and couldn’t see the sun, you might use a compass to figure out which way to go. For more than a thousand years, people have used magnetic compasses to navigate. But how do the other birds find their way?

The Earth’s magnetic field is recognized for shielding the planet and its people from risky cosmic rays and plasma emitted by the sun. However, birds use this magnetic field for navigation in a unique manner, similar to a GPS, and they can turn it on and off with great flexibility. Researchers have discovered two factors that are essential to a bird’s internal GPS: eyesight and scent. The perfume is unusual because we don’t typically associate birds with a sense of smell. The scent, it turns out, plays an important role in helping birds navigate. A bird can identify magnetic fields visually, allowing it to use a visual compass to navigate over long distances. Scientists have discovered a protein called cryptochromes in their retinas that enables signalling and sensing activities, assisting birds in navigating the great distances they travel while migrating.

Researchers detected a little magnetite area on the beaks of several birds. Magnetite is a magnetised rock that functions as a miniature GPS device for birds, providing information about its position relative to the Earth’s poles. Birds are considered to be able to navigate vast distances across places with few landmarks, such as the ocean, by using both beak magnetite and eye sensors.

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What is Creative Destruction?

 

The eighties and nineties were the era of VHS tapes. Invented by the Japanese company JVC, Video Home System (VHS) – or the ‘deck’ as it was locally known – was an instant hit around the world. Even in small towns of India, video shops that rented VHS players and cassettes were a lucrative business.

The era, however, did not last long. Along came the Compact Discs. Music, movies, data files – the flashy CDs could store anything. They could be played on TVs (hooked with CD players) and computers. Today, whatever CDs are left behind are used as reflectors on bicycles or for art-from-waste projects.

Streaming and cloud storage have made the CD obsolete, just like its predecessor. Tomorrow, the streaming system could be replaced with something else. This process of evolution of technology – from VHS tapes to streaming platforms or landline phones to smartphones – is called Creative Destruction.

The technological advancements defined above are recent, but the concept of creative destruction has been defined and debated by economists, sociologists, and political thinkers since the 19th century. The industrial revolution and colonialism were the two defining historical events that shaped its definition.

Foundational theories

 Creative Destruction is a critical component of the capitalist system of economics and politics.Yet, a first clear definition for the  process was given by the father of communism –an opposing economic and political throught Karl Marsx. Though he did not use the term Creative Destruction, he defined the concept as a ‘’contant upheaval and change within the capitalist system.’’

In his exhaustive work tirled, ‘capital; Acriyique of Political Economy; published as three volumes in 1867, 1885, and 1894. Marx writes: “The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society.”

This encapsulates the process of technological innovations that we see today. Take for instance the case of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is the new “instrument of production that is replacing older technologies and even humans in some cases. As a result, the “relations of production also changes, with new skills becoming essential for upward mobility in the job market. The “relations of society” has also changed as engineers with Al skills now draw higher pay packages compared to engineers in other sectors.

Much later, in the 20th Century, German economist Joseph Schumpeter popularized the term Creative Destruction, which was coined by another.

German economist Werner Sombart. In his book Capitalism, Socialism and Democraay, published in 1942. Schumpeter extrapolates the Marxist thought to describe the destructive process of a transformation caused by innovation for instance, the slow death of landline phones.

Schumpeter says Capitalism is a method of economic change which can never be stationary. The fundamental impulse that keeps the system running is new consumer goods, new methods of producing or transporting them, new markets to sell them, and new forms of organisations that the system creates. This is a fairly accurate description of how businesses work in our world today.

Modem examples

Schumpeters work is pretty accurate in defining the current startup era. He says innovative entry by entrepreneurs is the disruptive force that sustains economic growth, even as it destroys the value of established companies that enjoyed some degree of monopoly. A classic example for this is the case of social media eating into the market control of mainstream medin

However, Schumpeter was pessimistic about the sustainability of this process. Seeing it as leading eventually to the undermining of capitalism’s own institutional frameworks. The capitalist process in much the same way in which it destroyed the institutional framework of feudal society abo undermines its own, he said.

Today, most technology majors are focussed on continuous innovations that push boundaries of human imagination. As we grapple to get a grasp over the everevolving trends in technology, its important to leam about the great minds that prophesied this era.

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