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Astrobiology course 3
So following on from Astrobiology course 2 the section on Rise of life (video 4) had quite a lot of biochemistry, including look at the nucleobases that make up RNA & DNA
RNA Nucleobases
RiboNucleic Acid
DNA Nucleobases
Deoxyribo nucleic Acid
So in essence here there are only 5
The links point to wikipedia, which is NOT a academic source of information.
#AstroBiology,#Nucleobases,#Cytosine.#Guanine.#Adenine, Thymine,#Uracil
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Debian Developer update 8/11/2020
Freeze is near, prepare for it ==============================
On 12 January 2021 we're hitting the first milestone of the bullseye release: the Transition and (build-)essentials Freeze. If you made plans for the bullseye release, now is the time to evaluate if it's realistic to go ahead or if time is running too short. Remember you always have experimental to stage changes. If there is a unfixed bug that is nagging you, remember to fix it (e.g. via an NMU) now rather than later.
When the Transition and (build-)essentials Freeze starts, we'll be expecting maintainers to not start new transitions, and to avoid large and/or disruptive changes in their uploads. Maintainers of packages that are part of (build-)essentials are expected to stop uploading these packages, or in case something is really needed to align with us before uploading.
Please consult the bullseye freeze policy and timeline [BULLSEYE-FREEZE] for detailed information about the different types of freezes and what they mean for you.
[BULLSEYE-FREEZE] https://release.debian.org/bullseye/freeze_policy.html
Help fixing bugs ================
We know that many people would like short freezes (we do as well). We can achieve this if we all pull up our sleeves and fix RC bugs in testing before the transition freeze starts (or help remove packages with RC bugs from testing). You can do that now, by looking at the list of RC bugs BUGS or joining the #debian-bugs irc channel on irc.oftc.net.
Bug Squashing Parties =====================
Normally we would now encourage you to join one of the planned Bug Squashing Parties BSP. However, due to Covid-19, that page doesn't list any yet. So, we are seeking volunteers to (help) organize those, as in most places the traditional strategy won't work HOSTINGBSP. At first sight, having some jisti rooms available at blocked times based on topic or language might be pretty much all that's needed. To lower the bar to step up, we'll be organizing a brainstorm meeting JITSIMEETING on Saturday 14 November 19:30 UTC.
Debian 13 =========
The release team has decided that the release after bullseye and bookworm will be called “trixie”.
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Cheaper to prevent pandemics than 'cure' them -
note: This article contains my personal thoughts on the topics presented, I would, of course, welcome open discussion on this.
This is another interesting BBC news article, raises some interesting points on how humans interact with wildlife.
I would guess it also highlights we need to also provide clean, running water to everyone on the planet, in a way that is, of course sustainable.
In another news article, again from the BBC, Denmark are in the process of culling mink, this was after it was found there is a mutated covid strain that could be passed on to humans.
Perhaps the solution to all this is very simple, and will push for clean water for washing, cooking etc. But also access to alcohol handwash in all places that handle animals,including fish. Ultimatlythere are calls to eat less meats anyway, especially beef,due to the climate impact alone.
We need to do something, so this could make a really interesting field of research, incorporating many disciplines it may mean ending some industries, so that will need retraining.
I would guess, if we are going to produce more alcohol based hand gels we need to ensure that there are no implications of or risks of this getting in to water streams.
#bbc,#news,#science,#pandemic,cure,#hygeine,#prevention,
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Astrobiology course 2
So further to previous post I have now watched the course orientation. This has provided an excellent introduction and overview to the course, and the staff who are presenting the course, along with the Teaching assistant who will be assisting learners.
So will now just go through the remaining videos for the course and learn some astrobiology, which should be interesting.
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Enigmatic fast radio burst pinned on magnetised dead star
This is an interesting development, astronomers have found something they have been spending years searching for. Not sure where these stars appear on the The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54815687
The paper for this can be found on Physics World. Reported on IOPScience on 4th November 2020.
Currently discussing on a OU Science forum.
#bbc,#news,#science,#fsb,#space,#astronomy,#physics,#astrophysics.
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Particle Physics course review
I have now completed the 5 hour Particle Physics course which is part of OpenLearn from The Open University.
If you have followed other Open University courses such as How the Universe works (S197), then you will be familiar with some of the material. This particular is adapted from SM123 Physics and space.
In which case the course is not too complex, however you need to go in to this with an open mind. You should be familiar with the idea of Protons, Neutrons and electrons in the context of atomic structure. This course goes one step beyond that and looks at the particles and forces that make up these fundamental particle.
The course starts off with introduction with mentions of particles such as electrons, photons, electron Neutrinos. The course then moves on to discuss leptons which are part of the standard model of particle physics so there for discusses electrons, neutrinos, tau and muons in more details and how these are related.
After this, you look at Quarks and Hadrons, which are the fundamental particles that make up Protons and Neutrons of which there are 6 different types, along side their anti-matter counterparts, you then look at what makes up these matter and anti matter particles, with a closer look at Hadrons, anti-Baryons and Mesons, along with their respective charge levels.
There is an interactive activity at this point which asks you to work out the charge range of different hadrons by randomly selecting different quarks, e.g uud, udc, uds for example. So a knowledge of adding up fractions comes in useful (as chargers are expressed as fractions)
After which you move on to High energy reactions, and learn about the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, again there is an activity to have a go at as part of this.
You then look at strong interactions between particles, this also looks at types of decay (beta) then you look at weak interactions. After which there is a look at W and Z Bosons, after which there is a conclusion.
In all this is a really good introduction to the topic, updates you knowledge from courses that may have been completed several years ago. To show the speed of development, I completed my Certificate in Contemporary Science back in 2012, at the time S197 course, still cited the Higgs Boson as theoretical, since then we have proved it exists and not only that discovered it decays.
This course is a level 1, Open University introductory course, I think this is equivalent to Level 4.
Worth taking a look at if you are interested in Physics and how everything interacts together, just take your time to absorb what is being presented.
You may find the WikiPedia diagram useful too
I have a newer version of this that shows the anti matter counterparts, but you can find this by doing a search on the internet, as there are several versions.
Rating 5/5
Notes:
Updated 6/11/2020 – to include direct reference to SM123 Physics and space.
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Libreoffice 7
This video details the new features found in LibreOffice 7.x
Resources
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Yale University Chemistry BootCamp
If you are interested in careers in Chemistry, then there were posted to Youtube by NoreenGenChem
Four Yale chemistry graduate students experiences of Chemistry,
Session 1 – Careers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcDD5iD966A
Session 2 – Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyZsrLRrg0o
Session 3 – All about 2020 Yale Chemistry graduate admissions with some insider advice (with Q&A) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbCZ-UAgHUk
#Yale, #University, #Chemistry,#Bootcamp,#Shared,#Experience,#Research
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The search for life on Mars
One of the advantages of being a higher education student or in my case alumni is you get to join groups. I have just been watching a live webcast on the experiments that are being used onboard Mars rovers to look for possible indicators that Mars once supported life.
Exploring the Habitability of Mars with the Curiosity and Rosalind Franklin rovers and Orbital Missions
I am not sure if there is a recording of this going up, but the link to a some more information is here.
I am currently undertaking Particle Physics but there is also a really interesting series of lecutures on AstroBiology I want to check out too.
#OpenUniversity,#OU,#space,#science,#mars,#curiosity,#rover,#talks,#education,#chemistry,#biochemistry,#biology, #orgnaic,#OrganicMolecules,#NASA,#JPL,Rovers, #RosalindFranklin.#OrbitalMissions
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Meteorites Talk
Just been watching a really interesting talk by Dr Tim Gregory – Meteorites from 8th October 2020 – YouTube.
This was really interesting and accessible people with both a science and non science background,
Briefly touched on how the solar system was formed, protoplanetary disks looked at the two different types of asteroids, how they are formed, what makes them up internally, and finished off with a quick look at some of the organic molecules that have been found and how these could have found their way to earth.
Well worth a look, the video can be found on Youtube.
Thank you to the OU Science Club for pointing me to this talk.
#science,#astronomy,#chemistry,#space,#asteroids,#meteorites,#cosmochemistry,#geology,#rocks,#solarsystem,#planet,#formation
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