AnthropocenianAge
(AnthropocenianAge Arthropleura wants to give you a hug!)
21
A new article came out on loggerhead turtles and how they use magnetoreceptors for navigation. Some important findings include that turtles memorize magnetic fields associated with food sources, and respond to magnetic fields by “dancing”.
The scientists conditioned baby loggerhead turtles by exposed them to fields varying magnetic fields from 2,000 to 10,000 nanoteslas. One magnetic field was similar to the Gulf of Mexico, acting as the “reward”, while another magnetic field was similar to locations along the North Atlantic for “no reward”. When a baby loggerhead turtle went to the reward field, it began dancing or spinning, which is only observed in captivity.
Loggerhead turtles also have two magnetic systems. One is a magnetic map for tracking locations, while the second is an magnetic compass for orienting direction. Using RF waves, they were able to disrupt the turtles’ compass. Turtles did not recognize a place unless both inclination and intensity of the magnetic fields matched their memorized magnetic fields. This dual magnetic recognition system is similar in both birds and amphibians.
in each step you’re wasting energy. Artificial light is worse than regular farming
sunlight(100%)=>glucose(2%)
We can get rid of photosynthesis. This is the highest productivity increase
sunlight(100%)=>electricity(50%)=>glucose(8%)
I don’t know if I write that right. If the highest solar panel efficiency is 47%, why is an average solar panel 15-20% efficiency? Why do they even buy that
maybe it was
sunlight(100%)=>electricity(20%)=>glucose(8%)
1 Like
aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
28
Are these really plants anymore if they are just converters of electricity into glucose?
1 Like
Deathwake
(i nuked zenzone and will never let him forget it)
29
Two reasons: it’s cost effective, single junction solar panels cost way less, yes, if you’re build solar in a city, you might have so little room you don’t care and will pay several times over for a simple doubling of efficiency, but no one does that. You just buy many times as many panels and put them in rural areas. Now, why isn’t it better to buy fancier panels in the long term? Well… solar panels loose efficiency over time. For a consumer grade solar panel it’s something like 90% of the efficiency you bought it at after a decade and 80% after 2 or so. So, if no one repalces solar panels until they’re at least 20 years old, and “average” of 20% might actually correspond to an average of 22 or more, but I’m not actually sure how they include losses in calculating the averages. Something I recently learned was that Solar Thermal Power Plants can be 30% efficient without a massive increase in cost and those don’t loose efficiency gradually, they occasionally need parts replaced like a normal machine (very rarely). Honestly no clue why we don’t put those everywhere, I suppose they don’t scale great and need cooling systems but at whatever scale they work best they sound like a way more future proof plan than photovoltaics. Might not be a bad idea for space based solar power…
5 Likes
aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
30
I wonder what would be the actual results of creating a country-sized solar panel field in some desert as many people have proposed, since I could imagine such a large dark area would absorb quite the amount of heat in an already warm patch.
1 Like
AnthropocenianAge
(AnthropocenianAge Arthropleura wants to give you a hug!)
31
How did I miss this article? According to Nature Immunology, adjuvant (β-glucan) can reprogram innate immunity to provide protection against influenza A virus (IAV) infection. β-Glucan also reduced the morbidity and mortality against IAV infection, independent of host resistance. This is due to recruitment of neutrophils by a subset of T cells in the lung tissue. β-Glucan increased degranulation in a type 1 interferon-dependent mechanism, where neutrophils produced interluekin-10 and activated a mitochondrial oxidation pathway. The data suggest β-glucan reprograms hematopoietic stem cells to generate “regulatory” neutrophils, which help promote disease tolerance and maintainence of lung tissue integrity during viral infection. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-024-02041-2
This could be useful in the Industrial stage, where fungi-like-organism-derived adjuvants vaccines might be utilized as method for treating viral diseases.
aah31415
(The maker of SitF, Radiostrocity, The Lifenote and TGBing; The Second Ascended...; And just maybe a security warning come alive...?)
32
I guess then this would be the virus-killing equivalent to penicillin?
1 Like
AnthropocenianAge
(AnthropocenianAge Arthropleura wants to give you a hug!)
34
I accidentally put mushrooms instead of “fungi-like organism”. Thanks for the catch.
Do they have a stronger immune system due to living next to lots of microbes? Would it happen in every planet?
2 Likes
AnthropocenianAge
(AnthropocenianAge Arthropleura wants to give you a hug!)
36
According to Wikipedia, the Beta-glucan modulation varies depending on the source of where the Beta-glucan comes from.
Beta-glucans, β-glucans comprise a group of β-D-glucose polysaccharides (glucans) naturally occurring in the cell walls of cereals, bacteria, and fungi, with significantly differing physicochemical properties dependent on source.
I accidentally put mushrooms instead of “fungi-like organism”. Thanks for the catch.