Science & Media

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Astronomers create first realistic virtual universe

Summary: Move over, Matrix - astronomers have done you one better. They have created the first realistic virtual universe using a computer simulation called 'Illustris.' Illustris can recreate 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in a cube 350 million light-years on a side with unprecedented resolution.

This still frame from the Illustris simulation is centered on the most massive galaxy cluster existing today. The blue-purple filaments show the location of dark matter, which attracts normal matter gravitationally and helps galaxies and

clusters to clump together. Bubbles of red, orange and white show where gas is being blasted outward by supernovae or jets from supermassive black holes.

Credit: Illustris Collaboration

Move over, Matrix -- astronomers have done you one better. They have created the first realistic virtual universe using a computer simulation called "Illustris." Illustris can recreate 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in a cube 350 million light-years on a side with unprecedented resolution.

"Until now, no single simulation was able to reproduce the universe on both large and small scales simultaneously," says lead author Mark Vogelsberger (MIT/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for

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Astrophysics), who conducted the work in collaboration with researchers at several institutions, including the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies in Germany.

These results are being reported in the May 8th issue of the journal Nature.

Previous attempts to simulate the universe were hampered by lack of computing power and the complexities of the underlying physics. As a result those programs either were limited in resolution, or forced to focus on a small portion of the universe. Earlier simulations also had trouble modeling complex feedback from star formation, supernova explosions, and supermassive black holes.

Illustris employs a sophisticated computer program to recreate the evolution of the universe in high fidelity. It includes both normal matter and dark matter using 12 billion 3-D "pixels," or resolution elements.

The team dedicated five years to developing the Illustris program. The actual calculations took 3 months of "run time," using a total of 8,000 CPUs running in parallel. If they had used an average desktop computer, the calculations would have taken more than 2,000 years to complete.

The computer simulation began a mere 12 million years after the Big Bang. When it reached the present day, astronomers counted more than 41,000 galaxies in the cube of simulated space. Importantly, Illustris yielded a realistic mix of spiral galaxies like the Milky Way and football-shaped elliptical galaxies. It also recreated large-scale structures like galaxy clusters and the bubbles and voids of the cosmic web. On the small scale, it accurately recreated the chemistries of individual galaxies.

Since light travels at a fixed speed, the farther away astronomers look, the farther back in time they can see. A galaxy one billion light-years away is seen as it was a billion years ago. Telescopes like Hubble can give us views of the early universe by looking to greater distances. However, astronomers can't use Hubble to follow the evolution of a single galaxy over time.

"Illustris is like a time machine. We can go forward and backward in time. We can pause the simulation and zoom into a single galaxy or galaxy cluster to see what's really going on," says co-author Shy Genel of the CfA. !

Survey

Posting a survey online, we tried to understand what teenagers think about both Social Media and Science...

The survey included 10 questions and below we sow some of the answers we received. Q1: How much do you think Social Media affects Science?

Q2: According to the previous question, why do you think so?

• Through media coverage and attention, scientists respond more to them than to the nature of science.

• Since social media helps communicating your thoughts, work, problems and the ideas to fix them. etc., so it eases for those who are into science to acquire various information and ideas from different sources and different points of view, and thus helps their inspiration to grow, and by

that happening; more people will invent and create new ideas.

• Photoshop and fake posts have become very famous nowadays and many tend to believe what they see

• In the more recent years, Social Media has been the only source of information for most teens. Also, it has become a daily component of our lives, whether for communication, information or so on.

Q3: How often do you log into social media networks (e.g. Facebook, Google+, etc.)?

• More than Once a Day is 50%

Q4: Does Science influence changes in Social Media?

• Yes 55.56 % • No 44.44%

Q5: If yes, how so?

• The change from only using your pc to your laptop to your phone, is a simple example of how science and technology affect the social media, how often people can log onto them and how fast they can communicate their ideas and information with the world.

• Sometimes it does, if there's a huge discovery, everyone knows. Other than that science has no influence.

Social'Media'Affects'Science'

A"Lot"

Somewhat"

It"does"not"at"all"

• Some psychological techniques are used by the media that could be recently discovered

Q6: Which age group is mostly affected by Social Media? (You can choose more than one choice)

• Ages of 16-20 are 88.89% Q7: What is your primary source of information?

• 76.47% Internet, mainly Social Media

• 23.53% The news, either print or online

Q8: What is the definition of "Scientific Thinking" in your opinion?

• Thinking from both inside and outside the box, ie. looking at things from different points of view and calculating your best option(s).

• To me, Scientific thinking is the ability to think in an unbiased manner, critically and skeptically. With all the three we can achieve a more scientific method of thinking.

• How to be open to new ideas and more than one perspective

• Thinking rationally and looking at facts.

Q9: Does Social Media ever have a positive influence on scientific awareness?

• Yes 77.78% • No 22.22%

Q10: In your opinion, what is the percentage of teens who are interested in sciences? Mainly, it was between 21%-40% and 41%- 60%.

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I!HONESTLY!DON’T!CARE!

QUIZ SECTION

TEST YOUR SCIENCE-SOCIAL

SKILLS

I!USE!FACEBOOK!EVERYDAY,!MORE!THAN!ONCE!

NAAAH!

BUT!HONESTLY,!TAKE!A!STEP!BACK!AND!LOOK!AT!WHAT!HAPPENS!AROUND!YOU.!!DO!YOU!KNOW!ANY!NEW!SCIENTIFIC!DISCOVERY?!

CONGRATS!!YOU’RE!STILL!NOT!BRAINWASHED,!BUT!DO!YOU!KNOW!ANYTHING!AROUND!YOU?!

YEAHH!!!!!!

Science and Society Societies have changed over time, and consequently, so has science. For example, during the first half of the 20th century, when the world was enmeshed in war, governments made funds available for scientists to pursue research with wartime applications — and so science progressed in that direction, unlocking the mysteries of nuclear energy. At other times, market forces have led to scientific advances. For example, modern corporations looking for income through medical treatment,

drug production, and agriculture, have increasingly devoted resources to biotechnology research, yielding breakthroughs in genomic sequencing and genetic engineering. And on the flipside, modern foundations funded by the financial success of individuals may invest their money in ventures that they deem to be socially responsible, encouraging research on topics like renewable energy technologies. Science is not static; it changes over time, reflecting shifts in the larger societies in which it is embedded.

Agricultural, medical, and energy-related research, as shown here, reflect the concerns of society. Here, we'll briefly examine a few of the many ways in which the larger society influences science. You can investigate:

• Supporting Science • Meeting society's needs • Shaping scientists

Supporting Science Some science can be done without much money at all. You can make careful observations of the sparrows in your backyard and do real scientific research on a shoestring, but many research topics in science are not so

cheaply addressed. For example, scientists are eagerly awaiting the answers to key questions in particle physics, which they hope will come from a multi-billion dollar particle accelerator scheduled to be operational in 2009. Of course, most scientific research doesn't cost billions of dollars — but neither is it free.

This is just a small part of the Large Hadron Collider, a scientific instrument near Geneva, Switzerland. It is the result of a collaboration between more than 8000 physicists and hundreds of organizations from all over the world. It didn't come cheap.

Science can be expensive. There are salaries to be bankrolled, lab

equipment to be bought, workspace to be paid for, and field research to be financed. Without funding, science as a whole simply can't progress, and that funding ultimately comes from the societies that will reap its benefits. Hence, those societies help determine how their money is spent. For example, a society that largely approves of stem cell research will encourage government support, stimulating advances in the field. However, a society that largely disapproves of stem cell research is unlikely to support politicians who provide funding for that research. In the latter situation, less research on stem cells will be done, and that society is unlikely to become a leader in the field.

THE ENERGY RESEARCH ROLLERCOASTER Scientists researching alternative energy sources (e.g., wind, solar, and geothermal energy, as opposed to fossil fuels) are used to seeing their fortunes rise and fall with the societal, political, and economic climates. Funding available for alternative energy research often rises in step with the cost of fossil fuels and with society's interest in curbing pollution and conserving our natural resources. The energy crisis of the 1970s, for example, triggered a sharp increase in funds available to investigate alternatives to oil. Will current concerns over fossil fuels spark a similar increase? As of early 2007, society's concerns had yet to pay off significantly in

terms of research funds — but such wheels turn slowly, and alternative energy research may yet get its much-needed injection of research funds.

Funding influences the path of

science by encouraging research on some topics and pointing away from others. That influence may be indirect, such as when political priorities shape the funding programs of government funding agencies (like the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation). Or that influence may be more direct, such as when individuals or private foundations provide donations to support research on particular topics, like breast cancer — or when an individual or institution offers a

monetary prize for solving a particular scientific problem, such as the 25-million-dollar prize offered in 2007 for the invention of a viable technique for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As that example demonstrates, funding can shape the course of science by prodding it in particular directions — but ultimately, funding cannot change the scientific conclusions reached by that research.

Meeting Society’s Needs

Science responds to the needs and interests of the societies in which it takes place. A topic that meets a societal need or promises to garner the attention of society is often more likely to be picked up as a research topic than an obscure question with little prospect for a larger impact. For example, over the last 15 years, science has responded to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with a massive research effort. This research has addressed HIV in particular, but has also increased our understanding of viral infections in general. Society's desire to slow the spread of HIV and develop effective vaccines and treatments has focused scientific research, which improves our understandings of the immune system and how it interacts with viruses, drugs, and secondary infections. Science is done by people, and those people are often sensitive to the needs and interests of the world around them, whether the desired impact is more altruistic, more economic, or a combination of the two, as demonstrated in the example below.

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Influence of Social Media

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B R N A I N W K A E S S E M H H E D M B

Y M S E M O O C C I T A X A S L M A E D

C I I E W O A N Q E Y F P R A U S D D T

X L D S B S E Q R K B E L G W S S S N L

W I A E G I N E T O U K O A N D H A S K

A Y C I C U O R X W A O R T I F C W P X

C A Z S M T I E E I G L A S A I P X M J

F E C I Y S R D G B M L T N R W Y L X Z

V Q X P F Q U V A A N L I I B K J D M E

S F I V J N E G L N R L O R E T T I W T

W N W H A T S A P P C E N Y G P E C X R

G W D M W R U R N Q T E V Q H O H H T B

N U U K H F Q A E J X B S O G D B X H H

N O I T A C I F I S L A F E C C D R O W

Q C R I Y I M Q D Q F V T R W S T T S I

BRAINWASH CLAIMS COVERAGE EXPLORATION FACEBOOK FALSIFICATION INSTAGRAM MASS MEDIA MISGUIDANCE NEWS SCIENCE STEREOTYPING TWITTER WHATSAPP

What seems to be trending these days… #science

Strange pits on the surface of Mars Detailed look inside the Flame Nebula http://oak.ctx.ly/r/11bsp

Biologists create synthetic cells with two new letters in their genetic alphabet http://wrd.cm/RrTyl7 Planck sees the Milky Way's magnetic field http://wrd.cm/1uw69TN

And these sarcastic jokes about science also seem to be trending… #science - Do you know any jokes about sodium? Na. - I told a chemistry joke once... there was no reaction.

- I heard the funniest time

travel joke tomorrow. - Whenever you feel sad just

remember that there are billions of cells in your body and all they care about is you.

- Space is cool & all but u know what’s COOLER than space?? Nothing. Literally nothing is cooler than space.

Astronomers create first realistic virtual universe Summary: Move over, Matrix - astronomers have done you one better. They have created the first realistic virtual universe using a computer simulation called 'Illustris.' Illustris can recreate 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in a cube 350 million light-years on a side with unprecedented resolution.

This still frame from the Illustris simulation is centered on the most massive galaxy cluster existing today. The blue-purple filaments show the location of dark matter,

which attracts normal matter gravitationally and helps galaxies and clusters to clump together. Bubbles of red, orange and white show where gas is being blasted

outward by supernovae or jets from supermassive black holes. Credit: Illustris Collaboration

Move over, Matrix -- astronomers have done you one better. They have created the first realistic virtual universe using a computer simulation called "Illustris." Illustris can recreate 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in a cube 350 million light-years on a side with unprecedented resolution.

"Until now, no single simulation was able to reproduce the universe on both large and small scales simultaneously," says lead author Mark Vogelsberger (MIT/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), who conducted the work in collaboration with researchers at several institutions, including the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies in Germany.

These results are being reported in the May 8th issue of the journal Nature. Previous attempts to simulate the universe were hampered by lack of computing power and

the complexities of the underlying physics. As a result those programs either were limited in resolution, or forced to focus on a small portion of the universe. Earlier simulations also had trouble modeling complex feedback from star formation, supernova explosions, and supermassive black holes.

Illustris employs a sophisticated computer program to recreate the evolution of the universe in high fidelity. It includes both normal matter and dark matter using 12 billion 3-D "pixels," or resolution elements.

The team dedicated five years to developing the Illustris program. The actual calculations took 3 months of "run time," using a total of 8,000 CPUs running in parallel. If they had used an average desktop computer, the calculations would have taken more than 2,000 years to complete.

The computer simulation began a mere 12 million years after the Big Bang. When it reached the present day, astronomers counted more than 41,000 galaxies in the cube of simulated space. Importantly, Illustris yielded a realistic mix of spiral galaxies like the Milky Way and football-shaped elliptical galaxies. It also recreated large-scale structures like galaxy clusters and the bubbles and voids of the cosmic web. On the small scale, it accurately recreated the chemistries of individual galaxies.

Since light travels at a fixed speed, the farther away astronomers look, the farther back in time they can see. A galaxy one billion light-years away is seen as it was a billion years ago. Telescopes like Hubble can give us views of the early universe by looking to greater distances. However, astronomers can't use Hubble to follow the evolution of a single galaxy over time.

"Illustris is like a time machine. We can go forward and backward in time. We can pause the simulation and zoom into a single galaxy or galaxy cluster to see what's really going on," says co-author Shy Genel of the CfA. !

Name: Nouran Khaled Age: 18 years old Occupation: student ! Interviewer: Do you have access to Facebook or twitter?

" Nouran: Yes, Facebook and twitter. ! Interviewer: How often do you check Facebook and

twitter?

" Nouran: Although I used to think that Facebook and twitter are nothing but a waste of time… now I am checking them at least once a day

! Interviwer: What do you find appealing in Facebook and

twitter?

" Nouran: On twitter.. Political opinion yet on Facebook just contacting with my friends who live abroad

! Interviewer: Do you think social media generally affect

science?

" Nouran: Yes, I guess since most of the information about science is basically from social media especially Pinterest, the special section about environment and science.

! Interviewer: In what way do you think media affects

science?

" Nouran: I believe it is affecting science in a positive way because it works as a mean of broadcast for scientific innovations and discoveries.

Improving air quality in NYC would boost children's future earnings by increasing IQ

Summary: Reducing air pollution in New York City would result in substantial economic gains for children as a result of increasing their IQs. The study is the first to estimate the costs of IQ loss associated with exposure to air pollution, and is based on prior research on prenatal exposure to air pollutants among low-income children.

Manhattan New York (stock image). According to Dr. Perera, "Our analysis suggests that a modest reduction in urban air pollution would provide substantial economic benefits and help children realize their full potential." Credit: © Marco / Fotolia

Reducing air pollution in New York City would result in substantial economic gains for children as a result of increasing their IQs. The study is the first to estimate the costs of IQ loss associated with exposure to air pollution, and is based on prior research on prenatal exposure to air pollutants among low-income children by Frederica Perera, PhD, lead author of the current study, and colleagues at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School of Public Health.

The researchers made their calculation using a hypothesized modest reduction of .25 nanograms per cubic meter air (ng/m3) of ambient concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), a family of chemicals created by burning fossil fuels that is ubiquitous in urban air. By way of comparison, the current estimated annual mean PAH concentration is approximately 1 ng/ m3. The analysis focused on the 63,462 New York City children born in 2002 to women on Medicaid, a group sharing the same socio-demographic characteristics as the cohort studied by Dr. Perera and colleagues linking IQ and PAH, and used methods employed in published studies estimating earnings potential related to exposures to lead and mercury. Gains in IQ related to the hypothetical 25% reduction in PAH translated to increased lifetime earnings of $215 million. The researchers previously reported that children born to nonsmoking mothers exposed to higher levels of airborne PAH during pregnancy had IQs three points lower at age 5 than children whose mothers had lower PAH exposures. The IQ reduction was modest but in the range of that seen with low-level lead.

The researchers say they have likely underestimated the total economic benefit associated with reduction in prenatal PAH exposure because it does not include estimates of economic gains due to broader neurotoxic, respiratory, and carcinogenic effects, all also linked with PAH. While based on children born to mothers on Medicaid in New York City, the authors say, the results likely apply to children more broadly. IQ affects academic performance and earnings.

According to Dr. Perera, "Our analysis suggests that a modest reduction in urban air pollution would provide substantial economic benefits and help children realize their full potential." Full results are published in the Journal of Public Health Policy.