Science

Many times, we guess people or their feelings, depending on their facial expressions. We often take too-quick assumptions regarding people’s emotions from expressions on their faces. People often surmise a smile expresses happiness; many times, we get a smile in return. On the other hand, if a person sees another one sad, the individual tries to cheer up that person. Meanwhile, some big companies are functioning on a prototype to identify customer satisfaction via facial expressions. But researchers are warning people for judging people depending on facial expressions. It may seem apparent that one can guess someone’s mood depending on whether they are angry or grinning.

But a study suggests facial signs are, indeed, extremely poor indicators for humans’ inner feelings. Researchers have assessed internal muscle motion in the face tied to a particular mood and equated it with a candidate’s actual emotions at the time. They have discovered that efforts to recognize or outline feelings depend on facial signals remains a wrong theory. Interaction with individuals has always remained like a game of reading signs and rolling back. Prof. Akeix Martinez from The Ohio State University said the question they have asked could people truly detect emotion from facial signals. He added the answer is a big NO. Martinez has concentrated on developing computer programs to analyze facial indications. He and the team have offered their discovery at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Seattle.

Martinez noted everyone makes diverse expressions depending on conditions and cultural environment. He added it is essential to understand that not everyone who has a smile on the face is happy. As per the author, not everyone smiles when in a happy mood. Martinez noted that most people who do not have a smile on their face are not inevitably fateful. He said the danger relies on the probability of lacking the real emotion or intension in others and then making decisions regarding that individual’s potential or skills.

Since time unknown, humans are curious to know about our planet and beyond. Recorded ancient wisdom finds mention of planetesimal bodies and planets other than our mother Earth. From observations by sky-gazing and impeccable estimations, calculations in ancient times to the present first-hand observations through telescopes and satellites, humans have come a far way. Our curiosities kept on expanding from our planet, our moon to stars and planets of our solar system, to stars and planets of other solar systems or galaxies. Telescope’s invention and its eventual development was a boon. For improved observations, a telescope was first sent into space in 1990. It was Hubble telescope. Few others are TESS, Kepler.

An addition to the space telescope, European Space Agency (ESA) has successfully put a telescope CHEOPS into space orbit. CHEOPS (CHarachterising ExOPlanet Satellite) will study the exoplanets- planets outside our Solar System several light-years away. CHEOPS was launched atop Soyuz rocket from Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana. It will orbit at a distance of 435 miles (700 km) from Earth. The cost for ESA was around 50 million euros. It will measure the density, composition and size of exoplanets. It will also study bright stars that we know have planets orbiting them. It will explore the orbits extensively. The focus planets are super-Earth to Neptune range of size. CHEOPS will be using the transit method measuring technique to carry out these studies and observations. TESS and Kepler earlier used this technique.

The project endeavors to know what these exoplanets are made of. It aims to compose a family picture of exoplanets. Apart from this, the purpose of this study is diverse. It has a more extensive scope to understand the conditions of extraterrestrial life. To understand the creation of the universe and in turn, how earth originated. Above all, to understand the origin of life better. Finding answers to the timeless questions- where did we come from, are we alone? The stride won’t stop here and humankind will ambitiously keep exploring in the pursuit of knowing it all!

Fishes have a protective layer of scales over their skin, which offers them a flexible body. Even more, it makes them light enough to move upwards. These various needs have pressed the development of scales that can bear significant beating without affecting the freedom of movement. Scientists have Studied a giant Amazon fish, which swims waters crowded by piranhas. A newly published study in journal Matter sheds light on a mysterious fish, Pirarucu. It includes the participation of scientists from the University of California’s Berkeley and San Diego campuses. On Wednesday, they have detailed the unique pattern and impressive features of the skinned shield of the fish, Arapaima Gigas. The team said their findings could assist in the creation of a better waistcoat for people. Even more, the discovery would assist in the development of various applications in aerospace design.

The Amazonian fish can grow up to 15 feet long and may weigh around 441 pounds. Those features add them to the fleet of the world’s largest fish living in freshwater. The fish, also known as Arapaima, can breathe-in air and live up to 24 hours on the land. It is usually present in rivers in Peru, Guyana, and Brazil. As noted above, those Amazon basins are crowded by piranhas who have sharp-edged teeth, along with incredible bite strength and fatal eating madness. Arapaima has developed the potential to protect itself from piranhas. The scientists said Arapaima’s scales have all the best qualities of a bullet-proof vest. But the components are better-merged into one solid piece integrating tolerance and flexibility.

Even more, Pirarucu’s adaption has solved the difficulty that engineers face while trying to create synthetic armors. Those fishes have a firm, but flexible, interior layer covered by collagen to its mineralized external layer of scales. Notably, Pirarucu’s every scale has two layers; the first one is highly mineralized, while the other is consists of fibers of collagen. It is a common protein present in the skin of all vertebrates. From both layers, the mineral one had the potential to resist the type of damage that a bite of piranha would make. But in case of any injury like a fracture, the body releases collagen to stop the spreading of crack.

Other fishes also make use of collagen, like Pirarucu, but the collagen layers in the scales Pirarucu are thicker than in any other type of fish. Even more, a single scale of Arapaima is as thick as a grain of rice. The team says this incredible thickness of scales is the secret behind the fishes’ ability to protect itself.

NASA’s Hubble Telescope has spotted the supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy. The black hole is nearly 2.6 billion times heavier than Sun, which makes it the supermassive black hole. When the International collaboration of Astronomers captured the image of the black hole shadow, it became famous in the astronomer’s community. The first images were captured using the powerful radio telescopes on the planet, but later NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope played a big part. With the crystal clear images of the M87 galaxy and the supermassive black hole in the center, it became evident.

The radio telescope captures the radio frequencies coming from the source, i.e., the Black Hole. But NASA’s Hubble Telescope directly took the optical images of the energy emitted from the black hole. The energy escaped from the black hole with a bright white trail. NASA announced that the SuperMassive black hole is nearly 2.6 billion times heavier than our Sun. Also, the images of the Bright white stream shows the stunning details of subatomic particles rushing outwards in the bright trail. As the black holes are not visible to the optical spectrum, the energy stream ejected from the black hole is the only visible clue. The jet stream ejected from the black hole is known as the Relativistic jet.

The relativistic jet stream contains the subatomic particles, radiation, and dust particles. The trail is nearly 1,000 light-years long, and the particles travel at the near speed of light from the event horizon. The scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope project captured the images of the same Black Hole a few months ago. Even though the space telescope studied the same black hole a few years ago, this is the discovery that will certainly help the astronomers and scientists about the Black Holes.