Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS.
ON 06/05/2024 MORE THAN 1.972.210
VISITORS FROM 134 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
10-03-2022
SCIENTISTS CAPTURE FIRST-EVER IMAGE OF QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT
SCIENTISTS CAPTURE FIRST-EVER IMAGE OF QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT
THE IMAGE PAVES THE WAY FOR TOOLS TO ANALYZE QUANTUM BEHAVIOR.
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
Candid
Scientists just managed to snap an image of two photons linked by quantum entanglement, marking the first time that the bizarre phenomenon has been captured with a camera.
The image shows two photons that have been linked through quantum entanglement, which means that they instantly respond to changes that occur in each other, even if they’re separated by a vast physical distance, according to research published Friday in the journal Science Advances. This first-ever photographic evidence of entanglement could help scientists better understand new technology, reports New Atlas, like quantum computers or cryptography.
Rapid-Fire
Taking the image was no easy task, according to the research. The University of Glasgow physicists rigged a camera to capture 40,000 frames per second of an experimental setup that they maintained at -30 degrees Celsius in pitch black. They then had to comb through thousands of frames to find signs of entanglement.
“The image we’ve managed to capture is an elegant demonstration of a fundamental property of nature, seen for the very first time in the form of an image,” Glasgow physicist Paul-Antoine Moreau, told New Atlas. “It’s an exciting result which could be used to advance the emerging field of quantum computing and lead to new types of imaging.”
Barcelona-based startup Kreios Space wants to unleash the potential of very low Earth orbit (VLEO) satellite missions.
Its secret weapon? The company is developing a fuel-free propulsion system that enables satellites to orbit much closer to Earth.
"Right now, very low Earth orbit is an unused orbit simply because of the lack of propulsion systems capable of staying in this orbit," Jan Mataró, Kreios Space CTO told IE in an interview at the Mobile World Congress. "But it could allow for a huge increase in the resolution for both telecommunications and earth observation."
What is very low Earth orbit?
VLEO is roughly defined as any orbit in the range between 95 miles to 250 miles of altitude. As a point of reference, the Kármán Line, which some define as the boundary of space, is about 65 miles high. Most satellite missions currently operate at about 370 miles or much higher, where they can maintain an orbit that keeps them rotating around Earth with minimal thrust.
Operations in VLEO can provide substantial benefits, according to Kreios Space, but it is currently an unexploited orbit due to the fact that constant thrust is needed to prevent satellites from deorbiting because of the atmospheric drag effect at this relatively low altitude.
With current technologies, this constant orbital correction would simply be too costly, but Kreios Space thinks it has the solution — and it's one that could also help with the growing problem of space debris. Called ABEP, which stands for Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion, the company's system works by absorbing air to generate plasma, which is then accelerated through an IPT thruster and electromagnetic nozzle. And yes, there is still some air in the altitude at which ABEP will operate. The team at Kreios Space believes its system will lower the costs of VLEO operations enough to make them feasible.
There's no space debris in VLEO
But what are the main benefits of operating in VLEO? "Descending to VLEO would provide two major improvements," Mataró told IE. "The first one is a massive increase in resolution for satellite images, and the second comes from the fact that space debris does not accumulate at this altitude."
To be precise, Kreios Space says operating in VLEO will allow a 16x increase in resolution for Earth observation and telecommunications satellites. What's more, the firm claims its system "doesn't produce space debris" as satellites operating at such a low orbit will have to eventually make a planned deorbit. "When the satellite's lifetime is finished," Mataró said, "it will simply deorbit and disintegrate." More often than not, satellites are placed into a graveyard orbit at the end of their lifetime, which has resulted in a massive accumulation of orbital space debris over the years — according to the European Space Agency, there are approximately 98,000 tonnes worth of space objects currently hurtling around the planet.
According to a statement provided to IE, Kreios Space said it aims to have the first complete functional ABEP system ready by 2024. To do that, they hope to raise €2.5 million (approx. $2.7 million) over two upcoming investment rounds.
If Kreios Space — which is composed of six co-founding engineers from Barcelona — achieves its goal of making constant orbital corrections at such a low orbit affordable, it will open up a whole new avenue for satellite operators. This would reduce the cost of high-resolution images, making them more accessible to all. It would be of massive benefit to the scientific community, which is more reliant than ever on Earth observation.
Correction 09/03/22: An earlier version of this article incorrectly cited geostationary orbit and pointed to the effect of gravity on satellites as opposed to atmospheric drag. This was corrected.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:SF-snufjes }, Robotics and A.I. Artificiel Intelligence ( E, F en NL )
UFO Filmed By Airliner Pilot Over Colombia Found To Be Genuine
UFO Filmed By Airliner Pilot Over Colombia Found To Be Genuine
An Airbus A320 pilot, on a routine flight over Medellin, Colombia, looked out the cockpit window and spotted something he had never seen before in the clouds – a UFO. And now, many experts have agreed that the mysterious object filmed by an eyewitness is “real”.
The pilot quickly grabbed his phone and began filming the mysterious object, first pointing the camera at his altimeter, which shows he was flying at about 30,000 feet, and then pointing it out the window towards the clouds.
The pilot zoomed in and immediately saw a strange geometric metal object flying in a straight line in the opposite direction.
The Proof Is Out There on the History channel further examined the footage, after which it became definitely clear that the UFO looks like a polyhedron. Various video experts were then interviewed.
One researcher has suggested that the object’s diameter is between 10 and 15 feet, but its structure is unlike any flying object on Earth.
The aviation expert added that the object was moving too slowly to be a plane or a rocket, which implies that it does not look like a drone at all.
Against this backdrop, it has been suggested that it could be a solar orb, but this is highly unlikely as they do not “survive” at such a high altitude.
“I don’t have a good explanation,” the specialist said. Against this background, the interviewed experts classified the material as one of the “real UFOs”.
Commentators also agreed with the findings and suggested that the pilot was able to quickly zoom in on the object because he had already seen it, followed it, grabbed his phone, and knew where to shoot:
“Pilots are required to have excellent vision to fly. Some commercial pilots once were military fighter pilots and they needed to have ABOVE average vision. All pilots are supposed to scan the sky visually to avoid collisions. The object traveled slower than them so it stuck out visually. It isn’t surprising that he could spot it and then zoom in on it,” wrote one commentator.
Many believe that a UFO is a weather balloon sent to the planet to collect samples or conduct surveillance. It is also interesting to note that Navy FA-18 fighter pilots saw similar UFOs at 35,000 feet off the East Coast a few years ago.
The Department of Defense is still investigating what those objects were. Meanwhile, Medellin is no stranger to sightings. This South American city has witnessed so many events that it has been nicknamed the New Roswell.
RONDWORM MET MINIBREIN NEEMT BEHOORLIJK SLIMME BESLISSINGEN
RONDWORM MET MINIBREIN NEEMT BEHOORLIJK SLIMME BESLISSINGEN
Jean-Paul Keulen
Een wormpje met een behoorlijk klein stel hersenen zet zijn beet op doordachte wijze in bij het bewaken van zijn voedselvoorraad.
In eerste instantie lijkt het eetgedrag van de rondworm Pristionchus pacificus (P. pacificus) ontzettend simpel. Het enige wat dit wormpje van ongeveer een millimeter lang doet, is bijten. Komt het bacteriën tegen die het kan eten? Hap. Komt het een larve tegen van de worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans)? Hap. Komt het een volwassen exemplaar van C. elegans tegen? Hap.
Maar, zo hebben neurowetenschappers Kathleen Quach en Sreekanth Chalasani van het Salk Institute for Biological Studies vastgesteld in hun lab: in werkelijkheid lijken er flink wat afwegingen schuil te gaan achter de beten van P. pacificus. En dat terwijl het diertje het moet doen met een brein dat maar zo’n driehonderd neuronen bevat, waar onze hersenen er zo’n 86 miljard hebben.
Zes uur bijten
Wat de situatie rond P. pacificus en C. elegans complex maakt, is dat C. elegans een dubbelrol speelt. Deze worm is zowel een prooi van P. pacifus, als een concurrent. Hij voedt zich namelijk met dezelfde bacteriën als P. pacificus, maar doet dat anderhalf keer zo snel.
Daarbij komt dat vooral de larven van C. elegans geschikt zijn als prooi. Die bijt P. pacificus in één keer dood, waarna de maaltijd kan beginnen. Wil P. pacificus zich vergrijpen aan een volwassen C. elegans, dan wordt het een heel ander verhaal. Zes uur bijten voordat de prooi/concurrent het loodje legt, is geen uitzondering, zo blijkt uit de experimenten van Quach en Chalasani. Maar: een gebeten C. elegans druipt wel af na een enkele beet – en zal dan dus minder van de bacteriën opeten waar P. pacificus het ook op heeft voorzien.
Een C. elegans-worm (rechts) vlucht weg voor een bijtende P. pacificus.
Kortom, het bijtgedrag van P. pacificus kan twee doelen dienen. Ofwel het gaat om eten (van bacteriën of larven), ofwel het gaat om het wegjagen van concurrenten om de voedselvoorraad te beschermen.
Eten of verjagen
Nu zou je kunnen denken dat P. pacificus zich simpelweg in alles vastbijt dat op voedsel lijkt. Blijkt dat een kwakje bacteriën of een larve, dan heeft hij meteen wat te eten. Zet hij zijn tanden per ongeluk in een volwassen C. elegans, dan heeft hij in eerste instantie pech: zo’n grote worm krijgt hij niet zomaar dood. Maar dat pakt dan op de langere termijn toch positief uit voor de hoeveelheid bacteriën die tot zijn beschikking staat.
Het zit echter complexer dan dat. Als er weinig tot geen bacteriën in de buurt zijn, blijkt P. pacificus de volwassen C. elegans-wormen voornamelijk met rust te laten. Bij een overvloed aan bacteriën idem dito. Alleen als er een schaarse hoeveelheid bacteriën is, moeten volwassen C. elegans gaan uitkijken: dan zet P. pacificus het op een bijten. Bovendien lijkt P. pacificus in die situatie sneller te gaan bewegen en actief op zoek te gaan naar C. elegans die het op ‘zijn’ bacteriën voorzien hebben.
Zijn kleine brein ten spijt, lijkt P. pacificus dus behoorlijk slim te werk te gaan. Zijn beet kan bedoeld zijn om te eten of te verjagen, afhankelijk van de omstandigheden.
Bijtbereidheid
Quach en Chalasani zijn allesbehalve uitgekeken op hun wormpjes en hebben volop plannen voor vervolgonderzoek. Zo keken ze nu alleen naar hoeveel energie bacteriën of wormen P. pacificus opleverden, niet naar specifieke voedings- of giftige stoffen. Ook varieert de ‘bijtbereidheid’ per worm; de onderzoekers zouden graag begrijpen waarom sommige exemplaren van P. pacificus zoveel agressiever zijn dan andere.
Maar, zo schrijven ze, hun uiteindelijke doel is om uit te vinden hoe dat handjevol neuronen zulke complexe beslissingen neemt.
ALLE GERELATEERDE VIDEO'S, uitgekozen en gepost door peter2011
Strange Alien UFO Spotted Above South Carolina Released Strange Pulsing Orbs
Strange Alien UFO Spotted Above South Carolina Released Strange Pulsing Orbs
On January 6, a retired US Air Force veteran in Orangeburg, South Carolina, captured this clip.
The raw video of the alleged UFO sighting in provided to ufologist Scott Warring. In a recent article, he wrote, “It’s mind-blowing!” A lot of footage of UFOs has been shown over the years, but this is the closest shot of one I’ve ever seen!
I watched the video several times and found no evidence that it was a hoax. With covid and the late-night hours, it’s very improbable that anyone else saw the craft that night.
“The city of Orangeburg has a tiny population of just 12,000 people. But with Covid-19, and the late night hours, it is quite unlikely that anyone else saw this craft that night.
“Indeed, alien spaceships hover straight above our houses when we are all asleep.”
In the footage, we can see that the strange flying object emerged from the forest line. There were two orbs blinking red after a few seconds.
“I worked on C-17s in the Air Force and know that this is not an aircraft,” the video’s creator explains. He said the object was moving slowly toward the neighbors and then disappeared into the woods.
“When I left the house, I was scared. I thought something was wrong. When I got outside, I saw them walk through the swamp towards the woods.” The end of the movie saw the red orbs transform from a vertical position to a horizontal one, signaling the end of the movie.
Shapeshifting, for most people, provokes imagery of nothing more than centuries-old tales of savage, murderous werewolves and of big-bucks movies, such as An American Werewolf in London, Underworld, Dog Soldiers, and The Wolfman. That is not the case, however. As incredible as it may seem, shapeshifters are not merely the stuff of Hollywood and urban tales of a friend-of-a-friend variety. Rather, they are all too menacingly real. And, they are not all of the man-turns-into-wolf variety, either. Quite the opposite, actually: shapeshifters come in all kinds and sizes and have done so for countless millennia. While the traditional image of the werewolf is, without a doubt, the first thing that springs to mind when a discussion of shapeshifters takes place, the truth of the matter is that there is a veritable menagerie of such infernal things in our midst. Were-cats, were-tigers, were-hyenas, and were-coyotes are also near the top of the monstrous list. Then, there are the ancient beliefs that those who died violent deaths – or those who were, themselves, murderers – were often destined to return to our plain of existence in the forms of hideous beasts, including wild and savage ape-like animals, fearsome black dogs with glowing and blazing red eyes, and mermaid-like things. There are also beings from other worlds: aliens, extraterrestrials, and Men in Black.
(Nick Redfern)
The Nessies of Scotland have the supernatural ability to transfer into wild, black horses
Even the legendary monsters of Loch Ness, Scotland, are believed – in certain monster-hunting quarters – to be paranormal beasts that have the ability to alter their appearances at will. As are legendary vampires, who, the old legends suggest, can transform into the likes of bats and wolves. Collectively, all of these “things” amount to an absolute army of otherworldly creatures, and half-human monsters that have plagued and tormented us since the dawning of civilization. And, they show zero signs of slowing down anytime soon. The things you thought were only fit for campfire tales, late-night stories intended to thrill little children, and entertaining monster-movies, are, in actuality, creatures of the real world. Of our world. Shapeshifters are everywhere: they lurk in the shadows, in the deep woods and expansive forests, in dark and dank caves, and in the murky waters of our lakes and rivers. Maybe even, after sunset, in the recesses of your very own backyard, patiently waiting to pounce. And many of them like nothing better than to terrorize and torment us, the human race. And, today, I’m going to share with you a case that really stands out int the shapeshifting category.
Pauline Fry, who I interviewed in 2013, had a very strange encounter with a Man in Black back in October 1973, when she was living in Pasadena, California. It’s notable, and probably relevant, for me to reveal that a major UFO wave was going on at that time, and all across the United States. While hiking in the California hills one Sunday morning, Pauline encountered a classic, silver-colored flying saucer-style UFO which, at first, at least, was high in the sky. Suddenly, it dropped to around fifty or sixty above her, hanging there in an odd, wobbling fashion. Amazed, Pauline could only stare as the silent craft bobbed around – like a boat on churning waters – and then shot away at high speed. Pauline raced home and excitedly told her family of what had just taken place. They, apparently, weren’t the only ones who knew what had occurred on the fateful morning in 1973. Three days later, and after sunset, Pauline had a visitor. Not a welcome one, I should stress. It was a Man in Black, a skinny – almost emaciated – old man, dressed in a shabby black suit, looking pale and ill, and wearing an old, 1950s-style fedora hat.
(Nick Redfern)
Beware of those creepy black cars and the things inside them
Pauline said that she felt her mind was briefly enslaved, as the MIB near-hypnotically asked her to invite him into her home. In a slight daze, and to her eternal cost, she did exactly that. She retreated to the couch, stumbling slightly and feeling ice-cold. The old man followed her, and stood in the living-room, looming over her, as he warned her – in no uncertain terms – never to discuss her close encounter again. Ever. The MIB then turned around and headed to the door. At that exact same moment, Pauline felt her mental faculties return to normal and she raced after him, just as he exited the door and closed it behind him. Pauline threw the door open wide, only to find the old Man in Black gone. In his place, however, was something else: it was a large, black dog with bright red eyes. It snapped and snarled in Pauline’s direction and in what was clearly a deeply malevolent, dangerous fashion.
She stared in horror as the glowing-eyed monster prowled around the yard, clearly intent on adding to the malevolent atmosphere that was already firmly in place. Suddenly, and as if out of nowhere, a large, black Cadillac – that looked decades-old in design – appeared and screeched to a halt outside of Pauline’s home. It should be noted, here, that the MIB almost always drive such cars of that particular type, age and color. Pauline watched, shocked and scared, as the back door on the driver’s-side opened and the fiendish black hound bounded across the front yard and leapt into the back of the Cadillac, which shot away at high speed! Today, Pauline – now a grandmother and someone who is fairly comfortable about sharing her bizarre experience – is of a firm opinion that the aged MIB and the red-eyed beast were one and the same: A DangerousShapeshifter.
In a recent story, an ‘expert’ in extraterrestrials and UFOs suggested the reason Russia invaded Ukraine was to get possession of an “alien space ark” whose existence would be confirmed when it rose from its underground hiding place and flew into the air. As of this writing, that event hasn’t been reported by mainstream or military news or social media. However, there have been a number of UFO sightings which have been reported and recorded – including one where the UFO appeared to engage in battle with Russian tanks. Are aliens, as one site suggests, attempting to prevent a nuclear war that would not only affect Earth but the rest of the solar system? Or are these just the usual visuals of aerial battles by unknown or secret planes and drones in smoky darkness that makes them UFOs?
Clouds or spaceship?
“He said, ‘There’s some miracle that happened. It looked like an attack (on the Russians) from a spaceship. There was some kind of lightning shooting from the sky.’ And sparks were spreading everywhere.”
This account was relayed to CBN News by its Ukraine director, Kostyantine Lytvynenko, who received it from a the father of a Ukrainian soldier who called to say he and his troops were in a desperate and seemingly losing battle. While the soldiers on the scene called it help from a “spaceship,” the news director left it open to “divine intervention” as well. Or both – there are many who support the idea that many “miracles” in religious texts could have been alien encounters.
Or pareidolia – there have a number of reports of clouds in the shape of angels or deities, as in this tweet (see it here).
Look at the sky. There is an Angel above Kiev #ukraine
Sightings like the green orb in this video said to from Kyiv had some people speculating on the answer to an often-asked question – why don’t the aliens intervene or save us.
An interesting respondent gives an answer from the ET’s perspective:
“Often you ask our operator the following question: “why are these extraterrestrials not intervening to solve our age problems?”. We ask you: according to you, earthly, how should we intervene? Do you force yourself to accept our scientific, social, moral and religious values? Truthly, tell us: what would your reactions be if we do this, thus violenting your freedom, your free will? By doing it, we would like to know if you would believe us better or worse than you, used as you are to coercing, violent, impose political and economic interests for egoistic and blaspical purposes. We would like to know!”(Google translation)
Would you take a cow instead?
We saved you … now you must follow our teachings/leadership/religion. How often in our history have humans done the same to other humans? Ukraine is not alone in the UFO sighting – a UFO recorded over St. Petersburg (watch it here) was said by the witness to be too fast and too bright to be a helicopter. Another unidentifiable wartime ship or something else? Another over Omsk was cigar-shaped and one in an unidentified area appeared to be triangular. A secret Russian jet? The U.S. can’t be the only country with triangular aircraft – can it?
How long before we see Tic Tacs over Ukraine or Russia?
These sightings should remind us how terrible wartime is – when people wish for alien intervention and even hope to see crafts from another planet rather than those of the enemy. Would we really be ready to trade our humanity for help from extraterrestrials?
Underwater ruins and pyramid of ancient civilization discovered off St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana
Underwater ruins and pyramid of ancient civilization discovered off St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana
Amateur archeologist Gelé says he’s discovered the ruins of an ancient civilization off the coast of St. Bernard Parish and he said: “All I know is somebody built a city 12,000 years ago and it’s stuck out in Chandeleur."
He claims there are large underwater granite mounds near the Chandeleur Islands that may have once been the site of the lost city.
“What’s down there are hundreds of buildings that are covered with sand and silt and that are geographically related to the Great Pyramid at Giza,” Gelé said.
He produced underwater sonar images of what he claims are remnants of major buildings, including a large pyramid which produces an electromagnetic energy that’s incredible,” Gelé said. “It is apparently 280 feet tall” reports wwltv.
This UFO video was just submitted to me, allegedly by a locals in Ukraine. This was filmed near Lviv in Sunday, 7th March 2022. Huge bright UFO was slowly flying over the night sky.
We know a ton about the inside of Earth. We know it has both an inner core and an outer core and that the churning and rotation create a protective magnetosphere that shields life from the Sun’s radiative power. It has a mantle, primarily solid but also home to magma. We know it has a crust, where we live, and plate tectonics that moves the continents around like playthings.
But what about Super-Earths? We know they’re out there; we’ve found them. What do we know about their insides? Earth’s structure, and its ability to support life, are shaped by the extreme pressure and density in its interior. The pressure and temperature inside Super-Earths are even more powerful. How does it shape these planets and affect their habitability?
Super-Earths are more massive planets than Earth but not as massive as our Solar System’s ice giant planets, Uranus and Neptune. Uranus and Neptune are 14.5 and 17 times more massive than Earth. Generally, a Super-Earth is about two times more massive than Earth to ten times more massive than Earth. There are no firm definitions for Super-Earths, and different sources use different mass categories.
Of the almost 5,000 confirmed exoplanets, NASA calls 1539 of them Super-Earths. Super-Earths are defined by their masses, not by their composition or other characteristics. There are a lot of them, and some of our nearest stellar neighbours appear to host Super-Earths. There are different classifications for Super-Earths according to their densities and compositions. But many of them have similar densities to Earth and are likely compositionally similar.
This screenshot from the NASA exoplanets website shows the types of planets discovered beyond our Solar System. Image Credit: NASA
A team of researchers at Carnegie University and other institutions investigated the effect of extreme pressure and temperature on minerals inside Super-Earths. They performed lab experiments to simulate their interiors. They subjected minerals to extreme pressures and temperatures to see what would happen to them in the mantles of this common type of planet.
Earth’s interior dynamics support life in different ways. The magnetosphere generated by the core is one way. The magnetosphere directs harmful solar radiation away from the planet’s surface and prevents the solar wind from stripping away the atmosphere.
On Earth, plate tectonics and mantle convection have a thermostatic effect on the climate. Volcanoes release heated material and CO2 into the Earth’s atmosphere, stopping Earth from getting too cold. The same processes regulate the amount of CO2 by subducting carbonates back into rock with the help of rainfall. Plate tectonics also creates the complex chemistry necessary for life. So scientists think that plate tectonics and mantle convection play a critical role in life’s appearance and Earth’s ongoing habitability.
How would the extreme conditions inside a Super-Earth affect its habitability?
“The interior dynamics of our planet are crucial for maintaining a surface environment where life can thrive—driving the geodynamo that creates our magnetic field and shaping the composition of our atmosphere,” explained Carnegie’s Rajkrishna Dutta, the paper’s lead author. “The conditions found in the depths of giant, rocky exoplanets such as super-Earths would be even more extreme.
Silicate minerals make up most of Earth’s crust. The high temperature and pressure exerted on silicate minerals create key boundaries between the upper and lower mantle deep inside our planet. Studies of rocky exoplanets show they might also have silicate crusts. They exhibit the same density, roughly, as Earth.
Since Super-Earths can be so much more massive than Earth, the temperature and pressure inside them would be even more extreme than on Earth. The researchers wanted to probe those conditions and the effect they have on silicate minerals. They wanted to know if new types of silicates would emerge and if they would behave differently.
Silicate minerals make up most of the Earth’s mantle and are thought to be a significant component of the interiors of other rocky planets. On Earth, the structural changes induced in silicates under high pressure and temperature conditions define key boundaries in Earth’s deep interior. The research team was interested in probing the emergence and behaviour of new forms of silicate under conditions mimicking those found in distant worlds. The illustration is courtesy of Kalliopi Monoyios.
Under normal conditions, most silicates are organized into the same orientation called a tetrahedral structure. A tetrahedral structure has one central atom bonded with four other atoms.
This is a 3D ball model of a tetrahedral molecule. A central atom is located at the center, with four substituents situated at the corners of a tetrahedron. Image Credit: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1454649
Mg2SiO4, also known as Forsterite, is one of the most abundant silicate minerals in the Earth’s mantle above about 400 km (250 miles.) It’s likely abundant in rocky Super-Earths, too. Modelling shows that new phases of silicates emerge in extreme temperatures and pressures inside Super-Earths, but there’s no way to observe them. Calculations show that it requires about 490 GPa of pressure for new silicate phases to emerge. But there’s no way to simulate that pressure.
Fortunately, scientists can use an analog for silicates that responds the same way but at less extreme temperature and pressure. That analog is germanium. Specifically, it’s magnesium germanate, or Mg2GeO4. Calculations show that magnesium germanate also changes to a new phase at high pressure, but the threshold is lower. New phases emerge at about 175 GPa, and that pressure can be created in a lab.
The research team used a diamond anvil to subject Mg2GeO4 samples to extreme pressure, then heated them with a laser. They exposed the magnesium germanate to two million times Earth’s normal atmospheric pressure and watched as a new crystalline structure emerged.
At 2 million atmospheres, the central germanium atom bonded with eight oxygen atoms instead of four. The new mineral is called an “eight-coordinated, intrinsically discorded mineral,” and it could substantially affect the internal temperature and dynamics of Super-Earths.
Working with magnesium germanate, Mg2GeO4, analogous to one of the mantle’s most abundant silicate minerals, the team gleaned information about the potential mineralogy of super-Earths and other giant, rocky exoplanets. Under about 2 million times normal atmospheric pressure, a new phase emerged with a distinct crystalline structure that involves one germanium bonded with eight oxygens. Scientists expect the new eight-coordinated, intrinsically discorded mineral to strongly affect these planets’ internal temperature and dynamics. Image courtesy Rajkrishna Dutta.
“The discovery that under extreme pressures, silicates could take on a structure oriented around six bonds, rather than four, was a total game-changer in terms of scientists’ understanding of deep Earth dynamics,” explained study co-author Sally June Tracy. Tracy refers to the discovery of silicate-perovskite (now called bridgmanite) and post-perovskite. Perovskite is a mineral structure that only forms under high pressure. It’s not stable at Earth’s surface and mainly exists in the lower part of Earth’s mantle. Scientists first discovered natural silicate perovskite in a heavily shocked meteorite.
“The discovery of an eightfold orientation could have similarly revolutionary implications for how we think about the dynamics of exoplanet interiors,” said Tracy.
Seismic discontinuities create the boundaries between Earth’s core, mantle, and crust. A seismic discontinuity is a sudden jump in seismic velocity across a boundary. The different structures of minerals under high pressure and temperature help create these discontinuities. So in effect, the structure of the minerals contributes to regulating the heat flow from the planet’s interior to the surface and also to plate tectonics. As a result, the structure of the minerals is a big part of what determines habitability.
Minerals determine the boundaries in Earth’s core under different pressures and temperatures inside the planet. This figure shows the pressure as it increases with depth in green. It also shows the speed changes in S (red) and P (blue) seismic waves. The seismic discontinuities coincide with mineral changes. Image Credit: University of Maryland
In an email exchange with Universe Today, study lead author Rajkrishna Dutta explained the big picture.
“The germanate is an analogue for the silicate. So, we expect to see a silicate eight-coordinated phase in the deep mantle of large super-earth planets. Having an eight-coordinated phase suggests a tighter, denser crystal structure.”
How does a tighter, denser crystal structure affect a planet’s interior?
“A transition from the six-coordinated post-perovskite leads to significant (~2.5%) difference in volume. This suggests the possibility of a seismic discontinuity in the mantle of those giant planets. Depending on the slope of the transition (expected to be negative), this can create a boundary layer for subducting plates and mantle convection.”
The question is, how exactly will this affect Super-Earths’ potential habitability? Earth’s interior structure plays a considerable role in maintaining habitability. The same must be true on Super-Earths.
This artist’s impression shows the planet K2-18b, its host star and an accompanying planet in this system. As of 2019, K2-18b is the only super-Earth exoplanet known to host both water and temperatures that could support life. What role does the planet’s interior structure play in the potential habitability? Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser
“Not much is known about the geology of the large exoplanets. Our study is still preliminary, and further work needs to be done to understand the effect of the structure on the thermodynamic and rheological properties of this structure. But, interestingly, this structure is disordered, so the two very different-sized cations occupy the same site. This suggests, at such extreme conditions, materials may behave very differently and undergo more chemical mixing,” Dutta explained.
Previous studies on Super-Earths have produced different results. Some research shows that Super-Earths have much more powerful geological activity than Earth. The tectonic plates would be thinner and under more stress so that that plate tectonics would be more vigorous. Other research shows that Super-Earths would have much stronger crusts that inhibit plate tectonics. And there’s no widespread agreement among scientists that plate tectonics is necessary for life.
Unfortunately, we’re nowhere near understanding the interior structure and dynamics of distant exoplanets. The InSight lander is gathering data on the interior of Mars, which will give us one more data set on planetary interiors. But we’re nowhere near a comprehensive understanding of exoplanet interiors.
The InSight lander is gathering data on Mars’ interior. Though Mars is far from being a Super-Earth, the data InSight is gathering will help scientists understand planetary interiors better in general. The SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) instrument is under the white protective in this image. Image Credit: NASA/JPL
However, that doesn’t mean there’s no progress to be made.
“But, understanding of the interiors of these planets are mostly based on laboratory experiments and theoretical computations,” Dutta said. “This is a domain where a lot of collaborative work between geoscientists, astrophysicists, chemists is required. With more experiments and modelling, we believe we can get a clearer picture of these planetary interiors.”
That work will only increase as we discover more and more exoplanets.
“Just as the discovery of widespread, six-coordinated germanates/silicates profoundly altered our understanding of silicate crystal chemistry and its role in the Earth’s deep interior, the discovery of an eightfold-coordinated, intrinsically disordered germanate opens the possibility of previously unexplored crystal–chemical behavior in the silicate minerals of large, rocky exoplanets,” the authors write in their conclusion.
SpaceX’s first Jupiter launch a step closer as NASA begins assembling ‘Europa Clipper’
SpaceX’s first Jupiter launch a step closer as NASA begins assembling ‘Europa Clipper’
NASA says that the assembly of Europa Clipper has begun at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Southern California.
Europa Clipper is an interplanetary spacecraft developed by NASA to observe Europa, a large moon of Jupiter, over the course of a series of flybys while orbiting the gas giant. The Clipper’s primary goal is to determine whether Europa hosts conditions suitable for life in an immense liquid water ocean that lies under its icy surface. NASA has selected SpaceX to launch the ~$4.25 billion spacecraft to Jupiter in 2024 on its Falcon Heavy rocket – a contract SpaceX effectively beat out NASA’s own Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to win.
The engineering components and science instruments that make up the spacecraft’s flight hardware began development in 2016 and are expected to be completed by the end of 2022. These components come from across the United States and Europe and will be assembled at JPL. The main body of the spacecraft is a 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) cylindrical propulsion module. Fitted with electronics, radios, cables, and the spacecraft’s propulsion systems, it will ship to JPL this spring. Europa Clipper’s 10-foot-wide (3-meter-wide) high-gain antenna is expected to follow not long after.
The first instrument to arrive at JPL was the Europa-UVS, an ultraviolet spectrograph that was assembled in San Antonio, Texas. Europa-UVS will search above the surface of Europa for signs of plumes. The instrument collects ultraviolet light, then separates the wavelengths of that light to help determine the composition of the moon’s surface and gases in the atmosphere.
As components of the spacecraft arrive, they will be integrated together and re-tested. Engineers need to be sure the instruments can communicate with the flight computer, spacecraft software, and power subsystems.
“Once all the components have been integrated to form the large flight system, Europa Clipper will move to JPL’s enormous thermal vacuum chamber for testing that simulates the harsh environment of deep space. There also will be intense vibration testing to ensure Europa Clipper can withstand the jostling of launch. Then it’s off to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for an October 2024 launch.”
According to NASA, “when it’s fully assembled, Europa Clipper will be as large as an SUV [and have] solar arrays long enough to span a basketball court – all the better to help power the spacecraft during its journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.”
Previous imagery has already provided scientists with certainty that Europa’s surface is made up of mostly water ice. Additionally, other data about the moon’s physical characteristics have engendered great confidence that beneath or within some of that 15-mile-thick ice lies pockets of liquid water that could go thousands of years between re-freezing events. Those water pockets could potentially be habitable and even contain microbial life that Europa Clipper could detect.
The icy crust of Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, Europa, may hold pockets of liquid water that could support life.
Some scientists like Monica Grady, Chancellor at Liverpool Hope University, believe it is almost certain that Europa is harboring life. “When it comes to the prospects of life beyond Earth, it’s almost a racing certainty that there’s life beneath the ice on Europa,” stated Grady in 2020.
NASA says that “Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and conduct multiple close flybys of Europa to gather data on the moon’s atmosphere, surface, and interior. Its sophisticated payload will investigate everything from the depth and salinity of the ocean to the thickness of the ice crust to the characteristics of potential plumes that may be venting subsurface water into space.”
Falcon Heavy, 2019. (SpaceX)
Europa Clipper will be carried into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful operational rocket today. The ~$178 million launch contract was announced on July 23rd, 2021. Following a tentative Q4 2024 launch into heliocentric (sun-orbiting) space, Europa Clipper will spend around three years in deep space, performing gravity-assist maneuvers at Earth and Mars to eventually boost itself to Jupiter for a 2028 arrival.
Now I have long believed that many UFOs will pick and choose where and when to show up at in order for more eyewitnesses to see them. Here is just such an occurrence. A UFO shot over a stadium in Rome, Italy on Saturday night. The stadium is big, 70,000 seats! So a lot of people noticed it as it shot overhead. This is fantastic!
I just found this UFO video of alleged sighting over Kiev in Ukraine on 5th March 2022. Although I find it a little strange that the city is so full of lights during this hard times.
‘Ruimteruzie’ tussen VS en Rusland escaleert verder op Twitter: “Misschien kan je een baan vinden bij McDonald’s”
De Russische ruimtechef Dmitry Rogozin en de voormalige astronaut Scott Kelly zijn verwikkeld geraakt in een stevige online discussie. Aanleiding is een tweet waarin Amerikaanse vlaggen van Russische raketten worden verwijderd. “Onze raketten zien er zo mooier uit”, klinkt het. Het ruimtepartnerschap tussen de VS en Rusland staat al op losse schroeven, nadat Rusland enkele internationale samenwerkingen op het ruimtestation ISS stopzette.
Glenn Haex
Vorige week plaatste de Russische ruimtechef Dmitry Rogozin een video waarop technici de vlaggen van onder meer de Verenigde Staten en Japan op een raket overplakken. Het gaat om een Sojoez-raket die 36 internetsatellieten moest lanceren voor het Britse bedrijf OneWeb. De lancering, gepland op vier maart, ging uiteindelijk niet door omdat het niet volgens de eisen van de Russische ruimtevaartorganisatie Roscosmos zou gebeuren.
Rogozin gebruikt de video nu om zijn eigen mening te geven: “Zonder de vlaggen van sommige landen zien onze raketten er een stuk mooier uit.” Scott Kelly, een Amerikaanse ruimtevaarder die een jaar aan boord van het ISS doorbracht, reageert daarop het volgende: “Dimon, zonder die vlaggen en de buitenlandse valuta die ze binnenbrengen, is je ruimteprogramma geen moer meer waard. Misschien kun je een baan vinden bij McDonald’s als McDonald’s nog bestaat in Rusland.”
Een woedende Rogozin antwoordt vervolgens: “Ga weg, idioot! Anders zal de dood van het ISS op je geweten zijn!” Een tweet die hij al snel verwijdert. Dat is Scott Kelly echter niet ontgaan: hij plaatst de tweet van zijn tegenstander opnieuw: “Dimon, waarom heb je deze tweet verwijderd? Wil je niet dat iedereen ziet wat voor kind je bent?” Handig om de discussie ten volle te snappen: Dimon is een vertroetelende vorm van Dmitry.
Daar laat Rogozin het niet bij. Hij antwoordt maandag het volgende: “U provoceert me onnodig. We kennen elkaar niet, maar u... noemt me ‘Dimon’. Ik zal niet toestaan dat u zich zo gedraagt bij mij. U bent uitdagend en destructief. Misschien zijn de dementie en agressie die je hebt ontwikkeld een gevolg van de overbelasting en stress van vier vluchten naar de ruimte. Ik nodig je uit om een onderzoek te ondergaan in het Herseninstituut van ons Federaal Medisch en Biologisch Agentschap.”
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WATCH AN AI TURN MUSIC INTO A BRAIN-MELTING VISUALIZATION
WATCH AN AI TURN MUSIC INTO A BRAIN-MELTING VISUALIZATION
"THE AI DOES NOT FULLY CREATE THE WORK, AND NEITHER DO I. IT IS VERY MUCH A COLLABORATION."
XANDER STEENBRUGGE
Neural Synesthesia
Synesthesia is the rare condition when our senses melt together — some say they can hear colors, others that they can taste words.
But what if we let the senses of an artificial intelligence overlap instead? Belgium-based machine learning researcher and educator Xander Steenbrugge has developed a neural network that can turn music into trippy visualizations.
It’s an impressive example of the synthesis between human-created artforms and AI algorithms.
Making Music
Steenbrugge’s project, called “Neural Synesthesia,” makes use of a generative adversarial network.
“This project is an attempt to explore new approaches to audiovisual experience based on Artificial Intelligence,” wrote Steenbrugge in a description of his project. ” I do not create these works, I co-create them with the AI models that I bring to life.”
First, Steenbrugge feeds an AI algorithm a basic dataset of images, then trains the model to replicate their visual style. Finally he allows the AI to twist and blend the visuals based on parameters Steenbrugge pulls out of different audio sources using a “custom feature extraction pipeline.”
“The AI does not fully create the work, and neither do I. It is very much a collaboration,” adds Steenbrugge.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that there would be “slight delays” ahead for the company’s experimental Mars-bound spacecraft. To blame, the billionaire said, was SpaceX having to dedicated more resources to fighting escalating cyber attacks on Starlink satellites by Russia after the space company sent Ukraine a shipment of its internet terminals.
Flight Delays
Starship’s first launch has been delayed numerous times now, with much of it due to pending regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, this latest instance comes amidst a time of geopolitical turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
After being criticized for not helping the country, Musk sent a shipment of Starlink terminals to Ukraine, much to the chagrin of Moscow. The billionaire later tweeted that this would likely make SpaceX a target for Russian cyberattacks.
“Some Starlink terminals near conflict areas were being jammed for several hours at a time,”Musk posted on Saturday. “Our latest software update bypasses the jamming.”
It is slightly unclear why exactly a cyber attack or even anti-satellite attacks on Starlink would result in a delay of Starship. Is SpaceX pulling aerospace engineers to work on cybersecurity? Seems doubtful. In reality, it could just be a convenient excuse for Starship’s latest delay.
SCIENTISTS CREATE JET ENGINE POWERED BY ONLY ELECTRICITY
SCIENTISTS CREATE JET ENGINE POWERED BY ONLY ELECTRICITY
THE PROTOTYPE DEVICE DOESN'T USE ANY FOSSIL FUELS TO GENERATE THRUST.
PIXABAY/VICTOR TANGERMANN
Clean Air
A prototype jet engine can propel itself without using any fossil fuels, potentially paving the way for carbon-neutral air travel.
The device compresses air and ionizes it with microwaves, generating plasma that thrusts it forward, according to research published Tuesday in the journal AIP Advances. That means planes may someday fly using just electricity and the air around them as fuel.
Scaling Up
There’s a long way to go between a proof-of-concept prototype and installing an engine in a real plane. But the prototype was able to launch a one-kilogram steel ball 24 millimeters into the air. That’s the same thrust, proportional to scale, as a conventional jet engine.
“Our results demonstrated that such a jet engine based on microwave air plasma can be a potentially viable alternative to the conventional fossil fuel jet engine,” lead researcher and Wuhan University engineer Jau Tang said in a press release.
Air Jet
Air travel represents a small but not insignificant portion factor of climate change. The New York Timesreported in September that commercial air is responsible for 2.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions — though that excludes military jets.
“The motivation of our work is to help solve the global warming problems owing to humans’ use of fossil fuel combustion engines to power machinery, such as cars and airplanes,” Tang said in the release. “There is no need for fossil fuel with our design, and therefore, there is no carbon emission to cause greenhouse effects and global warming.”
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NASA ISS ENGINEER SAYS RELATIONSHIPS WITH RUSSIAN COUNTERPARTS STILL CORDIAL
NASA ISS ENGINEER SAYS RELATIONSHIPS WITH RUSSIAN COUNTERPARTS STILL CORDIAL
"WE HAVE THE SAME GOAL… TO ENSURE THE CREW AND VEHICLE ARE SAFE."
NASA
Watercooler Talk
Despite the geopolitical drama unfolding on Earth, tensions on the International Space Station (ISS) are virtually nonexistent, according to one station engineer.
Todd Horelica, a NASA flight controller and safety engineer for the ISS, said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine hasn’t impacted operations aboard the orbital laboratory for him, and he’s even had some nice interactions with his Russian colleagues recently.
“Many have been wondering how the conflict in eastern Europe has affected ISS operations,” he tweeted. “It hasn’t… at least at my level. I had a pleasurable chat with my Russian counterpart today. It was business as usual. We have the same goal… to ensure the crew and vehicle are safe.”
Rantin’ Rogozin
Despite Horelica’s message, the fact remains that tensions on Earth have many worried that it could escalate to the ISS. This is due largely in part to the bloviating words of Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos.
Luckily, it seems like the rest of Roscosmos is much more level-headed than their leader. However, as tensions continue to escalate, who knows how long the cordial working relationship we’ve enjoyed with our Russian counterparts will last.
Advances in flow cytometry drive small bioparticle research
Advances in flow cytometry drive small bioparticle research
For researchers exploring the nature of small bioparticles, like extracellular vesicles or artificial nanoparticles, flow cytometry has largely been out of reach. No longer.
During the process of exocytosis, cells release membrane-bound vesicles (shown) into the extracellular space. Such bioparticles facilitate cell-to-cell signalling.
Credit: Meletios Verras/Shutterstock
In science, some of the most valuable discoveries hide in plain sight. Such was the case for extracellular vesicles (EVs). The small lipid-bilayer compartments are released from cells and contain nucleic acids, proteins and lipids. For decades, most researchers considered them insignificant. Many referred to them simply as platelet dust1.
In 2006, a series of published papers detailed the roles of EVs in intracellular communication. The findings spurred a wave of research. Between 2010 and 2019, the published mentions of EVs grew by 10 times from around 400 to more than 50002. Researchers now believe that EVs, which can be characterized into distinct subtypes, are vital in cell-to-cell signaling, and could serve as drug-delivery vectors and disease biomarkers.
“Extracellular vesicles are a really hot area of research right now,” says Stephanie Brunelle, a molecular biologist, and senior product manager for flow cytometry at the biotechnology company, Luminex in Seattle. “Many think they could be the next big biomarker.”
The challenge, Brunelle says, is analyzing and quantifying them.
While a number of methods exist, one of the most logical ones, flow cytometry, was until recently out of reach3. Flow cytometry is a bench-standard technique for cell sorting and quantification, and lends itself to high-throughput methods. But it was not sensitive enough to assess EVs or any other small bioparticles, whether artificial nanoparticles or small bacterial cells. Advances in imaging, assays and software are now enabling small-particle flow cytometry, and will almost certainly drive an even bigger wave of published EV research in the years ahead.
A better flow
Researchers have long used flow cytometry to count and characterize cells as microfluidics guide them over a detector. But human cells can be relatively large, up to 150 micrometres in diameter. EVs are decidedly smaller. One particularly interesting subtype of EVs, exosomes, have diameters between 30 to 100 nanometres, three orders of magnitude smaller than the average cell4.
Particles that small often emit signals too dim for standard flow cytometers to reliably detect, pushing researchers and companies to improve them. For example, flow cytometers traditionally used a photomultiplier tube as a sensor, but more modern devices incorporate more sensitive avalanche photodiodes or even CCD cameras, which can be five to 10 times as sensitive as PMTs. Luminex, for instance, makes a camera-based system.
“This technology is really great for detecting small particles,” Brunelle says.
Likewise researchers have developed improved assays and detection algorithms and their efforts have made the latest flow cytometers and techniques well suited to analysing and quantifying bioparticles.
Work is now ongoing to detect even dimmer signals. Many researchers are now interested in specific molecules inside EVs or carried on their surface, which can yield important clues about EVs’ purpose and mechanisms. But signals from those molecules can be between 10,000 and one million times dimmer than standard cells.
“This is the crux of why it's been hard to apply flow cytometry, which works so well in cells, for these small particles,” says John Nolan, a biochemist at the Scintillon Institute, a research organization in San Diego, California, and CEO of Cellarcus Biosciences. At Cellarcus, Nolan and others have developed a membrane stain that causes EVs to fluoresce brightly enough for a camera to detect5. The company also uses fluorescent-tagged antibodies, which they validate to make sure they’re selectively binding to the desired surface molecules.
While researchers could develop similar tools themselves, the availability of a simple kit can be a force multiplier for research. “It’s a hard measurement to make, and you have to do about a dozen things correctly,” Nolan says. “You don’t want it to be a physics project. You want it to be a clinical test at some point.”
The right signal
Gains in the sensitivity of flow cytometry are welcome, but they also can increase noise, whether from debris in the sample, autofluorescence in the buffer, or other factors. Researchers need to manage that risk to get reproducible results.
Perhaps the most important consideration, Brunelle says, is to run controls to calibrate the equipment, as well as to validate the EV sample. Researchers need to look at the buffer solution first by itself and then with fluorescent stain or antibodies added in order to calibrate their equipment. That way, when they make measurements on actual samples, those will be comparable to measurements made at a different time or on a different sample.
Likewise, Brunelle recommends performing incremental dilutions on a sample. By gradually reducing the concentration, researchers can determine which mixtures emit too much signal, saturating the detector, and which yield too little to be seen.
Using established standards and protocols is also important. Because small particle flow cytometry is still new, not all the standards have been set. But the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles publishes a series of guidelines laying out the controls and protocols scientists should follow to make sure they have a well validated particle population.
“Not all researchers are aware of this because EV research is still a little bit like the wild west, where people are kind of doing whatever they want,” Brunelle says. “But how can you be so sure that what you're seeing is true and real without using all the proper controls, especially something that's so technically challenging because it's so small?” Software, too, can help reduce noise by picking out weak signals. Luminex has an algorithm that can determine that a dim streak across the field of view of the camera is a signal from a single particle moving across the detector. It will then integrate that into a stronger signal.
More work remains. Nolan acknowledges that some of the smallest particles are still at the edge of reliable detection for flow cytometry. Also, researchers have found a surprising heterogeneity in EVs. It would be useful to sort small particles into different subgroups as they pass through the flow cytometer, as is done commonly with cell types. That could help researchers pair their work with further analysis, such as mass spectrometry. One possibility, Nolan says, could be to attach magnetic beads to antibodies, but those would then need to be removed somehow, and unlike cells, which can proliferate after sorting, it’s not clear how to get a large enough volume of EVs.
Almost certainly, these incremental improvements will come. “This is building on 20, 25 years of quantitative flow cytometry, and these concepts are well established for quantitative cell analysis,” Nolan says. “We are largely just adapting it down to this new, dim regime.”
To learn more about flow cytometry instruments and assays suitable for small bioparticle research, visit our website.
References
Hargett LA, Bauer NN. On the origin of microparticles: From "platelet dust" to mediators of intercellular communication. Pulm Circ. 2013;3(2):329-340. doi:10.4103/2045-8932.114760
Veziroglu Eren M., Mias George I. Characterizing Extracellular Vesicles and Their Diverse RNA Contents. Front. Genet. (11) 700 2020 https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2020.00700
Welsh, Joshua A, et al MIFlowCty-EV: A framework for standard reporting of extracellular flow cytometry experiments. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles. 9:1, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1080/20013078.2020.1713526
van Niel, G., D'Angelo, G. & Raposo, G. Shedding light on the cell biology of extracellular vesicles. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 19, 213–228 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm.2017.125
Crooks ET, et al. Engineering well-expressed, V2-immunofocusing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein membrane trimers for use in heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens. PLoS Pathog 17(10): e1009807. (2021) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009807
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 73 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
