Daily Archives: September 21, 2024

Mauna Kea telescope Scientists reflect on lessons learned after dismantling

Scientists are reflecting on lessons learned with the completion of removal this summer of the Caltech telescope from the summit of Mauna Kea after dec­ades of mounting tension with Native Hawaiians.The decommissioning of the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory in July followed the removal of a University of Hawaii observatory a month earlier and came amid a cultural resurgence among Native Hawaiians.
“Nothing is forever,” said Gregory Chun, executive director of the Center for Maunakea Stewardship at the University of Hawaii and a Native Hawaiian.
“It was important for these two facilities to come down, not just because they were not productive anymore, but because it’s an acknowledgment of the privilege of being up there. You were pau — you were done. So, you can go home now.”
Prized for its altitude, dark skies and low humidity, Mauna­ Kea still hosts 11 other telescopes. The facilities have brought Hawaii international acclaim in astronomy and have helped to boost the local economy.
Now the Caltech telescope moves to Chile with a new name (the Leighton Chajnantor Telescope), new instruments and the opportunity to reestablish itself on the cutting edge of astronomy.
Sunil Golwala, director of the observatory and a physics professor at Caltech, said the team has learned from their time on Mauna Kea and that the Chile site is farther from population centers and not regarded as sacred. They’ll also build near other observatories to reduce their environmental footprint.
In the aftermath of the observatory protests, finding the right balance between astronomy and preservation of the Mauna Kea sacred site remains a challenge.
Despite criticisms, the telescopes do help the state economically, and they support science and engineering on the islands as many of Hawaii’s young people are leaving to pursue degrees in these fields.
“You don’t have a unified consensus in the community — much less the Hawaiian community — about (the Thirty Meter Telescope) or astronomy,” Chun said. “So, balance is not going to be something that’s easily found, but I think if the authority can come up with a vision where people see themselves in it, we have a better chance.”
Over his time heading the center, Chun has come to think empathy is the path toward reconciliation, and the authority is an opportunity to find it.
“We certainly have a lot of lessons learned and scars that we’ve accumulated over the years,” Chun said.
“I also think, however, that it’s not by happenstance that one of the most sacred lands here in Hawaii to Native Hawaiians is also the premier place, certainly in the Northern Hemisphere if not in the world, for astronomy.”
Native Hawaiians have long regarded the summit as their spiritual connection to the heavens.
Protests erupted at the base of the mountain in 2019, when Caletch and the University of California proposed construction of another observatory, called the Thirty Meter Telescope. The outcry led the state to shift oversight responsibilities from the University of Hawaii — which leased the land to Caltech — to the new Maunakea Stewardship Oversight Authority, which is composed of local, environmental and scientific stakeholders.
The closure of the Caltech observatory marks the end of a contentious era, as locals and the new authority debate what’s next for the mountain.
“I have incredible respect for the people at the University of Hawaii, who can audit their own actions,” said John De Fries, executive director of the new authority. “If this authority can begin to pioneer a new model of leadership, that’s reason to be grateful, but the task of that remains ahead of us.”
In response to public criticism, the University of Hawaii created the Center for Maunakea Stewardship in 2020 to oversee operations on the mountain. It worked closely with Caltech to decommission the observatory.
Throughout the process, cultural observers were present to ensure deconstruction was done in a respectful way, and while the new authority was not involved in the decommissioning process, Caltech invited members to perform cultural ceremonies at its conclusion.
A senior member from the authority also inspected the site for final sign-off of completion, and reported that “the site had been restored to as near a pristine level that you can expect,” De Fries said.
Over its roughly three dec­ades of observations, the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory had played a key role in several scientific breakthroughs in astrophysics.
The observatory was first designed to detect some of the most unexplored wavelengths of light, between a third of a millimeter and 1 millimeter — much longer than visible light.
The telescope, with its fellow Mauna Kea resident the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, discovered that Earth is basking in light from excited molecules living quietly in interstellar space.
Toward the turn of the century, an upgraded Caltech Submillimeter Observatory started making maps of the sky. It was a “quantum leap in capability,” said Golwala.
This allowed scientists to map everything from dust in the interstellar medium to the largest scale of structure in the universe, galaxy clusters.

The forgotten scientist of History

Marie Benedict, La ragazza  del microscopio[The Girl with the Microscope], Piemme 2024
This novel, which I came across by chance, recounts the story of Rosalind Franklin, a British scientist, chemist, and expert in crystallography. In the 1950s, she was the only one able to capture an X-ray image of the DNA molecule, the famous Photo 51, and became the first person in the world to witness, incredulous, the appearance of a double-helix structure. This discovery would forever change the course of scientific history, which she summarized in several articles published in Nature magazine. However, history consigned her to oblivion, associated with her premature death at just 38 years old due to ovarian cancer, partly caused by overexposure to X-rays. The ones, who became famous for the discovery, even winning the Nobel Prize in 1962, were James Watson and Francis Crick, along with geneticist Maurice Wilkins, who improperly appropriated Franklin’s work without giving her any credit. Only through the careful analysis of Rosalind Franklin’s personal and scientific journey, conducted by her friend and fellow researcher Anne Sayre, have we been able to learn the truth and recognize the rightful value of her immense discovery.
#sistersproject
Rosa Lupoli is a Capuchin nun from Naples and abbess of the monastery of Santa Maria in Gerusalemme, also known as the Monastery of the Thirty-Three, founded by Blessed Maria Lorenza Longo.

Scientists store full human genome on everlasting memory crystal

In a remarkable breakthrough, University of Southampton scientists have successfully preserved the complete human genome on a 5D memory crystal. This revolutionary data storage format boasts incredible longevity, capable of surviving for billions of years.

The implications are extraordinary, as this technology could potentially serve as a blueprint for resurrecting humanity in the distant future. Additionally, it offers a powerful means of creating enduring records of endangered plant and animal species, ensuring their genetic information withstands the test of time.

The 5D memory crystal, developed by the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), represents a quantum leap in data storage technology. Picture a data storage medium that can retain up to 360 terabytes of information for billions of years without degradation, even at extreme temperatures. This extraordinary feat has rightfully earned it a Guinness World Record for being the most durable data storage material, a prestigious accolade bestowed upon it in 2014.

Comparable to fused quartz in durability, this crystal can withstand the harshest of conditions, including freezing temperatures, intense heat up to 1000 °C, and even direct impact forces of up to 10 tons per cm2. Moreover, it remains unaffected by prolonged exposure to cosmic radiation, making it a truly resilient medium for preserving valuable information.

The ingenious approach taken by the team at Southampton, led by the esteemed Professor Peter Kazansky, involves using ultra-fast lasers to inscribe data into nanostructured voids within silica, achieving feature sizes as minuscule as 20 nanometers.

What makes this technology truly revolutionary is its utilization of two optical dimensions and three spatial coordinates to inscribe data throughout the material, hence earning it the moniker ‘5D’ memory. This method transcends the limitations of traditional 2D data storage, making it a groundbreaking innovation with the potential to redefine the future of data storage.

The remarkable longevity of these crystals ensures that they will outlast humans and all other species. While it is currently impossible to synthetically create humans, plants, and animals using genetic information alone, recent years have seen significant advances in synthetic biology. Notably, in 2010, Dr. Craig Venter’s team achieved a major breakthrough by creating a synthetic bacterium.

“We know from the work of others that genetic material of simple organisms can be synthesized and used in an existing cell to create a viable living specimen in a lab,” says Prof Kazansky. “The 5D memory crystal opens up possibilities for other researchers to build an everlasting repository of genomic information from which complex organisms like plants and animals might be restored should science in the future allow.”

Memory of Mankind archive in Hallstatt, Austria. Credit: University of Southampton

To put this concept to the test, the team developed a 5D memory crystal containing the entire human genome. With approximately three billion letters in the genome, each letter was sequenced 150 times to ensure its accurate positioning. This groundbreaking deep-read sequencing work was conducted in collaboration with Helixwork Technologies.

Nestled within the depths of a salt cave in Hallstatt, Austria lies a remarkable time capsule known as the Memory of Mankind archive, housing an extraordinary crystal. This crystal, meticulously designed by a dedicated team, holds within it a wealth of data intended for future intelligences, whether organic or artificial.

The creators of this marvel have ingeniously inscribed a visual key on the crystal, offering a glimpse into the knowledge it safeguards and how it can be harnessed. Prof. Kazansky, one of the masterminds behind this project, explains that the visual key provides essential insights into the stored data, ensuring that it can be deciphered and utilized by those who come across it in the distant future.

Delving deeper into the visual key, one encounters a mesmerizing array of universal elements and the intricate molecular structure of the DNA molecule. The key not only reveals the fundamental building blocks of life, such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, but also elucidates the composition and arrangement of the DNA molecule, including the four bases: adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine.

Moreover, it offers a captivating visualization of how genes are positioned within a chromosome, ready to be integrated into a cell. This awe-inspiring display serves as a visual testament to the ingenuity and dedication of the team behind the 5D memory crystal, paying homage to the iconic Pioneer spacecraft plaques launched by NASA, which ventured beyond the bounds of our Solar System.

The 5D memory crystal stands as a testament to human achievement and a profound invitation to future generations or entities, urging them to unlock the treasure trove of knowledge it holds.

“We don’t know if memory crystal technology will ever follow these plaques in the distance traveled, but each disc can be expected with a high degree of confidence to exceed their survival time,” adds Prof Kazansky.