Science in the spotlight this week | Probe enters solar atmosphere for the first time

2021 Week 51 Issue 16 Total Issue 362

Here is the last issue of this year. I wish you all a happy new year in advance. Here are the most popular or discussed scientific topics we selected from Weibo, WeChat, Zhihu, Baidu, Toutiao and other information websites this week:

#Healthy step count range for sports rankings#

#The probe enters the solar atmosphere for the first time#

#China discovers complete dinosaur embryo fossil#

#Anthrax toxin relieves pain in mice#

1. Healthy step count range for sports rankings

As the pace of life gets faster and faster, many people realize that walking is a very cost-effective sport, so whether it is office workers or the elderly, they all regard walking as a form of exercise. As for how many steps are appropriate, according to Weibo @CCTV News, the number of steps that ordinary people walk can be controlled at about 8,000 steps a day, of which four to five thousand steps are to meet the needs of daily life and avoid a sedentary state. The other 3,000 steps require some continuous brisk walking or jogging to make the lungs breathe slightly faster, reaching a level of slight panting, thereby improving the level of cardiopulmonary endurance. At the same time, since everyone's physical condition is different, you cannot blindly follow the above standards, but should determine it according to your actual physical condition. For example, people who do not exercise all year round can appropriately walk one or two thousand more steps, while the elderly with inconvenient joints can reduce the number of steps to avoid causing joint synovitis (hip, knee, ankle joints), meniscus injuries, cartilage injuries, osteoarthritis and other diseases.

Hotspot sources:

https://s.weibo.com/

The editor has something to say: Send this to your friends who are at the top of the WeChat sports rankings right away.

2. The probe enters the solar atmosphere for the first time

Recently, NASA announced at the 2021 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting that the Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, crossed the Alvin critical surface (the boundary between the solar atmosphere and the solar wind) for the first time during its eighth flyby of the sun, marking its entry into the solar atmosphere and contact with the sun's corona. The Parker probe is designed to allow humans to approach and observe the sun at the closest distance. Due to the extremely high temperature on the surface of the sun, in addition to moving rapidly at a speed of over 500,000 kilometers per hour, the probe will repeatedly jump sideways at its critical point, quickly enter and leave, and then use a set of equipment to measure the solar environment behind a thick heat shield. In the future, the Parker probe will continue to penetrate deeper into the corona, and will eventually reach within 7 million kilometers of the photosphere (the innermost layer of the solar atmosphere) in 2025 to conduct direct observations and sampling and analysis of the sun's atmosphere and solar wind.

Hotspot sources:

https://news.sina.com.cn/w/2021-12-15/doc-ikyamrmy9117109.shtml

The editor has something to say: I fly into the sky and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

3. Complete dinosaur embryo fossil discovered in China

Dinosaur embryo restoration, source: Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum

On December 21, in the latest research report published in the international scientific journal "iScience", a research team composed of Chinese, British and Canadian scientists announced the discovery of the most complete dinosaur embryo fossil to date - "Yingliang Beibei". This fossil was found in the Late Cretaceous strata in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. It is speculated to belong to theropod dinosaurs (oviraptorosaurs) dating back 72 million to 66 million years. The dinosaur embryo is about 27 cm long and curled up in a 17 cm long egg fossil. The head is located under the body, the feet are on both sides of the body, and the back is curled up along the blunt end of the egg. The posture is similar to that of modern bird embryos. This posture has not been found in dinosaur embryos before, indicating the preciousness and importance of the fossil.

Hotspot sources:

https://m.idai.ly/se/d03588

Image source:

Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum

The editor has something to say: The Oviraptorosaur would never have dreamed that tens of millions of years later, one day it would be “stolen”!

4. Anthrax toxin relieves pain in mice

Anthrax bacteria are known to cause severe lung infections in humans, as well as skin lesions in livestock and humans, but now, results from a new study suggest that this terrifying microbe also has an unexpected effect - one of its toxins can eliminate a variety of pain in animals (referring to experiments with mice). This specific anthrax toxin targets pain cells and alters nerve signaling to block pain, so it can deliver pain signals to neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems in a targeted manner. Based on this discovery, the researchers designed an anthrax protein carrier that delivers different types of treatments to pain receptors and modulates nerve cell function, thereby relieving pain in mice, and compared to the systemic effects of most current analgesics (such as opioids), this carrier can achieve precise targeted treatment.

Hotspot sources:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211220120629.htm

Editor's note: Codeine, dihydrocodeine, hydromorphone, oxycodone, methadone, morphine, fentanyl and pethidine (opioids) are out of the group chat..

In conclusion:

① The temperature inside the corona can reach millions of degrees Celsius or even higher. In this area, high-speed flowing charged particles suddenly accelerate to form the solar wind. If we can deeply understand the mechanism, we may be able to find ways to reduce the impact of the solar wind on the earth.

② No matter what kind of exercise you do, you must keep it moderate. Excessive exercise will bring negative benefits.

③ The embryo fossil discovered this time fills the gap of incomplete dinosaur embryo fossils before, and this fossil is helpful for studying the growth, development and reproduction of dinosaurs, and provides new evidence for the hypothesis that birds evolved from dinosaurs;

④ In the future, it may be possible to achieve local analgesic effects and use different treatments for different degrees of pain, but the safety of this toxin still needs further testing.

Source: Interesting Science