ASTRONOMY - Split the Universe

2022 April 24

Split the Universe
Image Credit: NASA, Erwin Schrödinger's cat

Explanation: Just now, before you hit the button, two future universes are possible. After pressing the button, though, you will live in only one. A real-web version of the famous Schrödinger's cat experiment clicking the red button in the featured astronaut image should transform that image into a picture of the same astronaut holding one of two cats -- one living, or one dead. The timing of your click, combined with the wiring of your brain and the millisecond timing of your device, will all conspire together to create a result dominated, potentially, by the randomness of quantum mechanics. Some believe that your personally-initiated quantum decision will split the universe in two, and that both the live-cat and dead-cat universes exist in separate parts of a larger multiverse. Others believe that the result of your click will collapse the two possible universes into one -- in a way that could not have been predicted beforehand. Yet others believe that the universe is classically deterministic, so that by pressing the button you did not really split the universe, but just carried out an action predestined since time began. We at APOD believe that however silly you may feel clicking the red button, and regardless of the outcome, you should have a thought-provoking day. Or two.

SANTE/MEDECINE - Quel est l'alcool qui a le plus d'effet sur notre tour de taille ?

On le sait, l'alcool et ses sucres cachés n'est vraiment pas bon pour la ligne et réduire sa consommation d'alcool est l'une des premières choses à faire quand on se lance dans un régime.

Mais des chercheurs de l'université de l'Iowa (Etats-Unis) ont cherché à savoir si toutes les variétés d'alcool avaient le même effet sur notre taille. Et la réponse à cette question, qu'ils ont vérifiée auprès de 1869 personnes âgées de 40 à 69 ans, est : non !

IL VAUT MIEUX BOIRE DU VIN ROUGE QUE DE LA BIÈRE

"Chaque type d'alcool contient des profils nutritionnels et des pourcentages d'alcool par volume uniques. Par conséquent, une forte préférence pour un type d'alcool a une influence sur la composition corporelle lorsqu'on en boit régulièrement" soulignent les chercheurs dans leur étude publiée sur la Wiley online library.

Les chercheurs ont découvert que la consommation régulière de bière ou de spiritueux est corrélée à un rapport taille-hanches plus élevé (ce qu'on appelle la graisse viscérale). Un effet qui n'existe pas avec le le vin rouge, en raison de sa teneur en polyphénols plus élevée. Enfin, la consommation de vin blanc a un effet plus étonnant, puisqu'il semble que ceux qui en consomment aient une plus forte densité osseuse.

TopSanté

MERVEILLEUX MONDE SOUS-MARIN - Dauphin à long bec dans la mer Rouge

Dauphin à long bec (Stenella longirostris) à Shaab Samaday. Ces dauphins peuvent mesurer deux mètres vingt et peser 75 kilos, ils sont caractérisés par leur long rostre et leur corps fin. Ils se nourrissent de petits poissons et de calmars. On les trouve dans toutes les mers tropicales et subtropicales, en troupeaux de 25 à plusieurs centaines d'individus. Très sociables et joueurs, les dauphins de Shaab Samaday laissent les baigneurs les approcher, et parfois les toucher.

Lieu : mer Rouge, région de Marsa Alam.

© Alexis Rosenfeld

FuturaSciences

MUSIC - Robert Schumann - Träumerei

"Träumerei"

ASTRONOMY - Messier 104

 2022 April 23

Messier 104
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive;
Processing & Copyright: Ignacio Diaz Bobillo

Explanation: A gorgeous spiral galaxy, Messier 104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy. This sharp view of the well-known galaxy was made from over 10 hours of Hubble Space Telescope image data, processed to bring out faint details often lost in the overwhelming glare of M104's bright central bulge. Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen across the spectrum, and is host to a central supermassive black hole. About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104 is one of the largest galaxies at the southern edge of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Still, the spiky foreground stars in this field of view lie well within our own Milky Way.

ASTRONOMY - Around the World at Night

 2022 April 22

Around the World at Night
Video Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN, IDA), Music: Peter Jeremias

Explanation: Watch this video. In only a minute or so you can explore the night skies around planet Earth through a compilation of stunning timelapse sequences. The presentation will take you to sites in the United States, Germany, Russia, Iran, Nepal, Thailand, Laos and China. You might even catch the view from a small island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. But remember that while you're home tonight, the night sky will come to you. Look up and celebrate the night during this International Dark Sky Week.

ASTRONOMY - Apollo 16 Moon Panorama

 2022 April 21

Apollo 16 Moon Panorama
Image Credit: Apollo 16, NASA; Panorama Assembly: Mike Constantine

Explanation: Fifty years ago, April 20, 1972, Apollo 16's lunar module Orion touched down on the Moon's near side in the south-central Descartes Highlands. While astronaut Ken Mattingly orbited overhead in Casper the friendly command and service module the Orion brought John Young and Charles Duke to the lunar surface. The pair would spend nearly three days on the Moon. Constructed from images (AS16-117-18814 to AS16-117-18820) taken near the end of their third and final surface excursion this panoramic view puts the lunar module in the distance toward the left. Their electric lunar roving vehicle in the foreground, Duke is operating the camera while Young aims the high gain communications antenna skyward, toward planet Earth.

ASTRONOMY - Stars and Globules in the Running Chicken Nebula

 2022 April 19

Stars and Globules in the Running Chicken Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Stefan Steve Bemmerl

Explanation: The eggs from this gigantic chicken may form into stars. The featured emission nebula, shown in scientifically assigned colors, is cataloged as IC 2944 but known as the Running Chicken Nebula for the shape of its greater appearance. Seen toward the bottom of the image are small, dark molecular clouds rich in obscuring cosmic dust. Called Thackeray's Globules for their discoverer, these "eggs" are potential sites for the gravitational condensation of new stars, although their fates are uncertain as they are also being rapidly eroded away by the intense radiation from nearby young stars. Together with patchy glowing gas and complex regions of reflecting dust, these massive and energetic stars form the open cluster Collinder 249. This gorgeous skyscape spans about 60 light-years at the nebula's estimated 6,500 light-year distance.

ASTRONOMY - Stars and Planets over Portugal

 2022 April 18

Stars and Planets over Portugal
Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN, Dark Sky Alqueva)

Explanation: The mission was to document night-flying birds -- but it ended up also documenting a beautiful sky. The featured wide-angle mosaic was taken over the steppe golden fields in Mértola, Portugal in 2020. From such a dark location, an immediately-evident breathtaking glow arched over the night sky: the central band of our Milky Way galaxy. But this sky had much more. Thin clouds crossed the sky like golden ribbons. The planet Mars appeared on the far left, while the planets Saturn and Jupiter were also simultaneously visible -- but on the opposite side of the sky, here seen on the far right. Near the top of the image the bright star Vega can be found, while the far-distant and faint Andromeda Galaxy can be seen toward the left, just below Milky Way's arch. As the current month progresses, several planets are lining up in the pre-dawn sky: Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn.

ASTRONOMIE - Quand et comment le Soleil va-t-il mourir ?

 La fin du soleil

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