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A new study authored by Southwest Research Institute scientists Rodrigo Leiva and Marc Buie reveals the binary nature of a trans-Neptunian object (TNO). Leiva and Buie utilized data obtained by the Research and Education Collaborative Occultation Network (RECON), a citizen science research net-work dedicated to observing the outer solar system. The study was published this month in The Astrophysical Journal.
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are small icy bodies that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune. Binary TNOs occur when two of these objects orbit each other while together or-biting the Sun. Leiva and Buie discovered two objects in a particularly close gravitational configuration. The pair was detected using a stellar occultation, which occurs when an object passes between Earth and a distant star which hides, or “occults,” the star from view. Observers located in the path of the object’s shadow can record the star blinking out and reappearing. The length of time that the object blocks the starlight can be used to determine its size.
“In this instance, the occulted star also turned out to be a binary system. Binary stars are not unusual and binary objects are not unusual,” Buie said. “But it is unusual that we had a binary TNO occulting a binary star.”
“What’s also interesting and unusual is this object’s characteristics,” Leiva said. “The two components are quite close, only 350 kilometers apart. Most binary TNOs are very separated, usually 1,000 kilometers or more. This closeness makes this type of binary TNO difficult to detect with other methods, which is what RECON was designed to accomplish.”
The discovery of the new TNO was made possible by RECON, a collection of 56 observation stations stretching from Yuma, Arizona, to Orville, Washington. The NSF-funded project provides each station with an array of observation equipment, including 11-inch telescopes. High school teachers are trained by Leiva, Buie and Fiske Planetarium Director Dr. John Keller to operate the stations and observe occultations so they can then teach students how to make the same observations. RECON has seen several students go on to do research related to their observations in college.
“To me this project is citizen science at its best,” Buie said. “They’re learning as well as making observations and helping to collect data. If they didn’t do this, we wouldn’t learn about these objects.”
RECON stations are commonly placed in small communities along an ideal line, from the southern to the northern border of the United States, for observation of stellar occultations. Eight additional stations were established in Canada in 2018 by colleagues of Leiva and Buie.
Going forward, Leiva and Buie will continue to search for previously unobserved TNOs, with the aim of discovering whether close binaries are common or unusual in our Solar System.
“Most models of the Solar System indicate that binaries are very common, particularly close binaries like this one,” Leiva said. “If you have an accurate measurement of how common they are, you can fine tune these models.”
“Our overarching aim is to know how common close binary TNOs are,” Buie said. “Is this object one in a million or just like 90% of them? This is fueling our knowledge for building better models of how the Solar System formed.”
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Biometric authentication, which uses unique anatomical features such as fingerprints or facial features to verify a person’s identity, is increasingly replacing traditional passwords for accessing everything from smartphones to law enforcement systems. A newly developed approach that uses 3D images of finger veins could greatly increase the security of this type of authentication.
“The 3D finger vein biometric authentication method we developed enables levels of specificity and anti-spoofing that were not possible before,” said Jun Xia, from University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, research team leader. “Since no two people have exactly the same 3D vein pattern, faking a vein biometric authentication would require creating an exact 3D replica of a person’s finger veins, which is basically not possible.”
In the Optical Society (OSA) journal Applied Optics, the researchers describe their new approach, which represents the first time that photoacoustic tomography has been used for 3D finger vein biometric authentication. Tests of the method on people showed that it can correctly accept or reject an identity 99 percent of the time.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many jobs and services are now performed remotely,” said research team member Giovanni Milione, from NEC Laboratories America, Inc. “Because our technique detects invisible features in 3D, it could be used to enable better authentication techniques to protect personnel data and sensitive documents.”
Adding depth information
Although other biometric authentication approaches based on finger veins have been developed, they are all based on 2D images. The additional depth from a 3D image increases security by making it more difficult to fake an identity and less likely that the technique will accept the wrong person or reject the right one.
To accomplish 3D biometric authentication using the veins in a person’s fingers, the researchers turned to photoacoustic tomography, an imaging technique that combines light and sound. First, light from a laser is used to illuminate the finger. If the light hits a vein, it creates a sound much in the same way that a grill creates a “poof” sound when it is first lit. The system then detects that sound with an ultrasound detector and uses it to reconstruct a 3D image of the veins.
“It has been challenging to use photoacoustic tomography for 3D finger vein biometric authentication because of the bulky imaging system, small field of view and inconvenient positioning of the hand,” said Xia. “We addressed these issues in the new system design through a better combination of light and acoustic beams and custom-made transducers to improve the imaging field of view.”
Designing a practical system
To better integrate light illumination and acoustic detection, the researcher fabricated a new light- and acoustic-beam combiner. They also designed an imaging window that allows the hand to be naturally placed on the platform, similar to a full-size fingerprint scanner. Another critical development was a new matching algorithm, developed by Wenyao Xu from the Computer science and Engineering department that allows biometric identification and matching of features in 3D space.
The researchers tested their new system with 36 people by imaging their four left and four right fingers. The tests showed that the approach was not only feasible but also accurate, especially when multiple fingers were used.
“We envision this technique being used in critical facilities, such as banks and military bases, that require a high level of security,” said Milione. “With further miniaturization 3D vein authentication could also be used in personal electronics or be combined with 2D fingerprints for two-factor authentication.”
The researchers are now working to make the system even smaller and to reduce the imaging time to less than one second. They note that it should be possible to implement the photoacoustic system in smartphones since ultrasound systems have already been developed for use in smartphones. This could enable portable or wearable systems that perform biometric authentication in real time.
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Regrowing forests are absorbing just a small proportion of the carbon dioxide released from widespread deforestation in the Amazon, according to new evidence.
Secondary forests — areas of new forest growing on land that has previously been deforested — form a key part of policies aiming to tackle net carbon emissions and mitigate climate change.
In 2017 there were nearly 130,000 square kilometres of secondary forest in the Brazilian Amazon — roughly equivalent to the size of England.
Despite their scale and importance for climate targets, our understanding of their contribution to the tropical carbon balance is incomplete. It was not clear to what extent carbon emissions from deforestation have been offset by secondary forest growth, or how this has varied over time.
A new study by an international team of researchers from the UK and Brazil, published by Global Change Biology, used open source MapBiomas data to map the age, extent and carbon stock of secondary forests across the Brazilian Amazon between 1986 and 2017.
After calculating how much carbon had been lost through deforestation, the scientists discovered that, in more than 30 years, the regrowth of secondary forests in the Brazilian Amazon has offset less than 10 per cent of emissions from the loss of old-growth forests.
Charlotte Smith, a PhD researcher at Lancaster University and lead author of the study, said: “Secondary forests have an incredible potential to store large quantities of carbon. However, it takes a long time for them to build this carbon stock, so without a drastic decline in the rate of deforestation their environmental benefits will continue to be undermined.”
Despite a fifth of deforested land now being covered in secondary forest, the researchers found that most secondary forests are relatively young — more than 85 per cent are younger than 20 years old and almost half (42 per cent) are less than five years old.
This is because secondary forests are also subject to deforestation. Areas of land have been repeatedly deforested — thus limiting secondary forests’ effectiveness as a carbon store. “Of all the secondary forest mapped over the 32-year period, 60 per cent had been deforested again by 2017,” said Charlotte.
The researchers then looked at other factors known to affect secondary forest growth and carbon up-take, such as climate, landscape and proximity to old-growth forests, which can act as a source of seeds.
They found that the majority of secondary forests are situated far from primary forests, in the drier parts of the Amazon. These factors suggest they will be relatively poor for taking-up carbon.
The findings highlight that halting deforestation, particularly of old-growth forest, is essential and that secondary forest growth alone is not sufficient to control carbon emissions in the Amazon.
Co-author, Professor Jos Barlow, said: “Although secondary forests could be an important part of the solution to climate change, it is also important not to overstate their relevance. Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon surpassed 10,000km2 last year, and will almost certainly surpass that in 2020.”
The researchers hope that these results will help inform policies and management proposals that can mitigate climate change more effectively. “We show that preventing further deforestation remains the most urgent priority to mitigate climate change,” said Charlotte.
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Greater Manchester mayor says the curfew is doing “more harm than good”, but ministers defend it.
It could help prevent coeliac disease in children – but larger trials are needed first.
The title may sound morbid, but it can be a powerful personal growth practice to pause and ask yourself now and then:
Am I ready to die yet?
If I’m not ready to die today, what’s missing? What feels incomplete?
Then give some real thought to these questions, such as by journaling about them.
What will it take to feel that you’ve finished this life? What more do you need to do, say, achieve, or experience?
These questions can point you in the direction of meaningful goals. They can help you align the flow of your life with what really matters to you. They can prevent deep regrets too.
When I ask these questions of myself today, I actually do feel ready to die in some ways. I feel like I’ve done more than enough in terms of expressing myself creatively and doing purposeful work that serves the world.
I also feel like I’ve stretched myself a lot. I’ve faced fears. I developed many interesting skills. I’ve been in love multiple times. I exercised a lot and got good mileage from my body. I wrote and recorded lots of material to help others that can outlive me.
So I don’t feel like I’d be dying too soon in terms of these dimensions of life. I feel that career-wise I’ve contributed more than my fair share already. If death claims me today, I don’t think I’d feel like I missed out on anything critical there. I can always do more, but it doesn’t feel essential to do more or to create more in order to feel like I’m finished life in these areas.
Mainly I feel that I want to soak up more experiences – more travel to new places and more connections with interesting people. I feel that in order to finish life, I still need to see and experience more of the world, especially outside of the USA. I feel that I haven’t explored enough different modes of living yet.
I also think it would be great to spend some time living outside the USA, not just visiting places. When I check in with death, I sense that it would be wise to experience more variety in where I live and how I live. I don’t have a specific place in mind, but the idea has grown increasingly appealing during the past few years.
You may think that life in the USA is becoming too tumultuous, but actually the way I experience it is that it’s a bit predictable. Even with all the tumult, it’s remarkable how much sameness there is in the experience of living here.
You may get completely different answers, but that’s what comes up for me. I think that if I died today, my biggest regret would be that I didn’t spend enough time living and experiencing different places and connecting with different people in those places. I would love to remedy that in the years I have left.
What you learn from checking in with death may not feel urgent. It may generate some of those someday/maybe back burner desires. That’s okay. Just keep those desires in mind now and then. Keep reconnecting with them. Let them stand as open invitations, and say yes to them when you’re ready. And remain aware that the clock is ticking.
Anyone in England who tests positive has a legal duty to self-isolate or face a fine of up to £10,000.
Do you ever get invitations that are vibrationally (or emotionally) out of sync with what you’d like to experience?
Do you get invited to boring events when you’re in the mood for some excitement?
Do you get invited to tediously slow experiences when you’d prefer faster pacing?
Do you get invitations that feel obligatory when you find freedom and flexibility more appealing?
Do you get sucked into disempowering invitations (like a pity party or whinefest) when you’re shifting into empowerment mode?
Why does this happen? Why do you get invitations like this?
The answer is pretty simple: You haven’t seriously opted out of them. You haven’t educated people to stop sending you those invites. People are inviting you because you’re letting them invite you.
During my 20s I used to get plenty of misaligned invitations. People would invite me to events that seemed disempowering, obligatory, slow, boring, tedious, and blah. The problem was that I kept saying yes to them. Even begrudgingly I’d still agree to show up now and then. I’d endure the events. I’d tolerate the invites. I trained people to feel okay with continuing to invite me or to feel entitled to obligate me.
At some point I finally realized how foolish that was and that it was just going to be endless if I didn’t make some changes. If I was running this ridiculous pattern in my 20s, I’d still be doing it in my 30s, 40s, and beyond if I didn’t cut it loose. So I updated expectations, first for myself and then by communicating them to others. I opted out of those mismatched invitations.
I prepared myself for a negative response, figuring it would eventually blow over and then I’d be free. All I needed to do was to get my message across. I didn’t need to get into long-winded explanations about it afterwards. And I didn’t need to own other people’s reactions.
And guess what happened? At first people squawked a little bit. And then they stopped inviting me – no more invites to hours-long boredomfests, no more obligatory rituals, no more disempowerment galleries to attend.
How long did it take? Oh… five or ten minutes to write an email and click send. Maybe I did that more than once for different people and situations.
How long does it take to write something like this?
After giving it some thought, I realize that these kinds of invitations are a mismatch for me. So I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t send me more invites like this. I appreciate that you’re thinking of me and would like to spend time together. I just don’t feel aligned with engaging in these kinds of experiences. Hope you understand.
That’s a very basic version, so of course you can embellish with more details if you want.
When you opt out from misaligned invites, you can finally invest in doing what it takes to get yourself invited to aligned experiences. You’ll want something to replace that emptiness. You can seek out playful, fun, ambitious, purposeful, and growth-oriented invites – or whatever appeals to you.
Now it’s hard to remember getting the kinds of misaligned invites that used to be plentiful in my 20s. People just gave up – because I instructed them to give up. Even if they continued for a while, I had already moved on and wasn’t planning to show up, so sooner or later they were going to surrender to that fact. That’s the key – people will usually surrender when they can sense your certainty.
Which is better? To show up grudgingly to misaligned experiences, not being fully present and wishing you were somewhere else? Or to show up with gratitude, appreciation, excitement, and positive anticipation for an experience you’re eager to share with people? Which is more caring and compassionate? Which is more intelligent?
Which type of invitations are you currently getting? You know why you’re getting them. And you know what to do to change them if you want.
Go where your appreciation wants to go. Leave the misaligned invitations in the past, so your present and future can be rich in aligned ones.
Sharing a home with a pet appeared to act as a buffer against psychological stress during lockdown, a new survey shows.
Most people who took part in the research perceived their pets to be a source of considerable support during the lockdown period (23 March — 1 June, 2020).
The study — from the University of York and the University of Lincoln — found that having a pet was linked to maintaining better mental health and reducing loneliness. Around 90 per cent of the 6,000 participants who were from the UK had at least one pet. The strength of the human-animal bond did not differ significantly between species with the most common pets being cats and dogs followed by small mammals and fish.
More than 90 per cent of respondents said their pet helped them cope emotionally with the lockdown and 96 per cent said their pet helped keep them fit and active.
However, 68 per cent of pet owners reported having been worried about their animals during lockdown, for example due to restrictions on access to veterinary care and exercise or because they wouldn’t know who would look after their pet if they fell ill.
Lead author, Dr Elena Ratschen from the Department of Health Sciences University of York said: “Findings from this study also demonstrated potential links between people’s mental health and the emotional bonds they form with their pets: measures of the strength of the human-animal bond were higher among people who reported lower scores for mental health-related outcomes at baseline.
“We also discovered that in this study, the strength of the emotional bond with pets did not statistically differ by animal species, meaning that people in our sample felt on average as emotionally close to, for example, their guinea pig as they felt to their dog.
“It will be important to ensure that pet owners are appropriately supported in caring for their pet during the pandemic.”
Co-author, Professor Daniel Mills from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln said: “This work is particularly important at the current time as it indicates how having a companion animal in your home can buffer against some of the psychological stress associated with lockdown. However, it is important that everyone appreciates their pet’s needs too, as our other work shows failing to meet these can have a detrimental effect for both people and their pets.”
Dr Ratschen added: “While our study showed that having a pet may mitigate some of the detrimental psychological effects of the Covid-19 lockdown, it is important to understand that this finding is unlikely to be of clinical significance and does not warrant any suggestion that people should acquire pets to protect their mental health during the pandemic.”
More than 40% of UK households are estimated to own at least one pet.
The study also showed that the most popular interaction with animals that were not pets was birdwatching. Almost 55 per cent of people surveyed reported watching and feeding birds in their garden.
The paper, “Human-animal relationships and interactions during the Covid-19 lockdown phase in the UK: investigating links with mental health and loneliness” is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
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Materials provided by University of York. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
