Daily Archives: November 22, 2024

A vision for U.S. science success

White House science advisor Arati Prabhakar expressed confidence in U.S. science and technology capacities during a talk on Wednesday about major issues the country must tackle.“Let me start with the purpose of science and technology and innovation, which is to open possibilities so that we can achieve our great aspirations,” said Prabhakar, who is the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and a co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). “The aspirations that we have as a country today are as great as they have ever been,” she added.Much of Prabhakar’s talk focused on three major issues in science and technology development: cancer prevention, climate change, and AI. In the process, she also emphasized the necessity for the U.S. to sustain its global leadership in research across domains of science and technology, which she called “one of America’s long-time strengths.”“Ever since the end of the Second World War, we said we’re going in on basic research, we’re going to build our universities’ capacity to do it, we have an unparalleled basic research capacity, and we should always have that,” said Prabhakar.“We have gotten better, I think, in recent years at commercializing technology from our basic research,” Prabhakar added, noting, “Capital moves when you can see profit and growth.” The Biden administration, she said, has invested in a variety of new ways for the public and private sector to work together to massively accelerate the movement of technology into the market.Wednesday’s talk drew a capacity audience of nearly 300 people in MIT’s Wong Auditorium and was hosted by the Manufacturing@MIT Working Group. The event included introductory remarks by Suzanne Berger, an Institute Professor and a longtime expert on the innovation economy, and Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the School of Science and an astrophysicist and leader in gravitational-wave detection.Introducing Mavalvala, Berger said the 2015 announcement of the discovery of gravitational waves “was the day I felt proudest and most elated to be a member of the MIT community,” and noted that U.S. government support helped make the research possible. Mavalvala, in turn, said MIT was “especially honored” to hear Prabhakar discuss leading-edge research and acknowledge the role of universities in strengthening the country’s science and technology sectors.Prabhakar has extensive experience in both government and the private sector. She has been OSTP director and co-chair of PCAST since October of 2022. She served as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 2012 to 2017 and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from 1993 to 1997.She has also held executive positions at Raychem and Interval Research, and spent a decade at the investment firm U.S. Venture Partners. An engineer by training, Prabhakar earned a BS in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University in 1979, an MA in electrical engineering from Caltech in 1980, and a PhD in applied physics from Caltech in 1984.Among other remarks about medicine, Prabhakar touted the Biden administration’s “Cancer Moonshot” program, which aims to cut the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years through multiple approaches, from better health care provision and cancer detection to limiting public exposure to carcinogens. We should be striving, Prabhakar said, for “a future in which people take good health for granted and can get on with their lives.”On AI, she heralded both the promise and concerns about technology, saying, “I think it’s time for active steps to get on a path to where it actually allows people to do more and earn more.”When it comes to climate change, Prabhakar said, “We all understand that the climate is going to change. But it’s in our hands how severe those changes get. And it’s possible that we can build a better future.” She noted the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law in 2021 and the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act as important steps forward in this fight.“Together those are making the single biggest investment anyone anywhere on the planet has ever made in the clean energy transition,” she said. “I used to feel hopeless about our ability to do that, and it gives me tremendous hope.”After her talk, Prabhakar was joined onstage for a group discussion with the three co-presidents of the MIT Energy and Climate Club: Laurentiu Anton, a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering and computer science; Rosie Keller, an MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management; and Thomas Lee, a doctoral candidate in MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.Asked about the seemingly sagging public confidence in science today, Prabhakar offered a few thoughts.“The first thing I would say is, don’t take it personally,” Prabhakar said, noting that any dip in public regard for science is less severe than the diminished public confidence in other institutions.Adding some levity, she observed that in polling about which occupations are regarded as being desirable for a marriage partner to have, “scientist” still ranks highly.“Scientists still do really well on that front, we’ve got that going for us,” she quipped.More seriously, Prabhakar observed, rather than “preaching” at the public, scientists should recognize that “part of the job for us is to continue to be clear about what we know are the facts, and to present them clearly but humbly, and to be clear that we’re going to continue working to learn more.” At the same time, she continued, scientists can always reinforce that “oh, by the way, facts are helpful things that can actually help you make better choices about how the future turns out. I think that would be better in my view.”Prabhakar said that her White House work had been guided, in part, by one of the overarching themes that President Biden has often reinforced.“He thinks about America as a nation that can be described in a single word, and that word is ‘possibilities,’” she said. “And that idea, that is such a big idea, it lights me up. I think of what we do in the world of science and technology and innovation as really part and parcel of creating those possibilities.”Ultimately, Prabhakar said, at all times and all points in American history, scientists and technologists must continue “to prove once more that when people come together and do this work … we do it in a way that builds opportunity and expands opportunity for everyone in our country. I think this is the great privilege we all have in the work we do, and it’s also our responsibility.”

Scientists Concerned About Unknown Levels of Toxicity in Chemical Common in U.S. Drinking Water  

Scientists aren’t sure whether a chemical that’s commonly found in American municipal water systems is toxic.
The chemical, chloronitramide anion, was discovered 40 years ago — meaning people have been consuming it for decades. But scientists have only recently been able to properly identify it as a byproduct that’s produced when chloramine is added to water, according to a study published in the journal Science. 

Specifically, chloramine is used to kill viruses and bacteria, NBC News reports. And as the study explains, “inorganic chloramines are commonly used drinking water disinfectants intended to safeguard public health and curb regulated disinfection by-product formation.”

But its impact on humans is unknown — and concerning — since “it has similarity to other toxic molecules,” study author David Wahman, a research environmental engineer at the Environmental Protection Agency, told NBC. 

Stock image of tap water.
Getty

“We looked for it in 40 samples in 10 U.S. chlorinated drinking water systems located in seven states. We did find it in all the samples.” 

As the study says, chloronitramide anion could be in the water of up to a third of U.S. homes, since 113 million homes receive water that’s been treated with chloramine.

The study’s lead author, Julian Fairey, told NBC, “We don’t know the toxicity, but this study has enabled us to be able to do that work now.” 

Stock image of an urban wastewater plant.
Getty

One scientist pointed out that it’s likely the chemical is, indeed, toxic.

“It’s a pretty small molecule and it can probably for that reason enter into biological systems and into cells. And it is still a reactive molecule,” David Reckhow, a research professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, told NBC. “Those are the kinds of things you worry about.”

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Western scientists and international collaborators find new way to study near-Earth asteroids

In an international study led by Western University and Lowell Observatory, scientists describe a pioneering, integrative approach for studying near-Earth asteroids based largely on a November 2022 fireball event that dropped meteorites in the Niagara region.
The space scientists determined the composition and size of Asteroid 2022 WJ1 (WJ1) before it fractured upon entering Earth’s atmosphere by comparing Arizona-based telescopic observations to video captured by Western’s Southern Ontario Meteor Network cameras of the fireball (an unusually bright meteor) on November 19, 2022.
The study, published today in The Planetary Science Journal, is significant not only because it reveals key details about WJ1, the smallest asteroid in space to be characterized to date, but also for establishing the methodology for studying other space objects that impact Earth. This is the first time telescope observation and camera captures have been used to study the same space object.
The size of WJ1 was determined with the 4.3-meter Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) in Arizona. Observations from the LDT show the surface of WJ1 was rich in silica, meaning it had a medium-to-high albedo (reflected light). Astronomers use the reflected light to calculate the diameter, which was in the range of 40 to 60 cm (16 to 27 inches), making it the smallest asteroid on record.
A sequence of three images showing 2022 WJ1 streaking through the LMI field of view. Each of the individual streaks are how far WJ1 moved in an individual ten-second-long image. (Teddy Kareta/Lowell Observatory)
Combining two techniques
“This is only the sixth asteroid discovered before impact,” said Denis Vida, Western physics and astronomy adjunct professor. “Our new approach, discovering an asteroid through space observation and then subsequently observing it with cameras from the ground, allowed us to confirm that our estimates match well to estimates derived using a completely different approach.”
Using Western’s meteor camera network, Western space scientists captured the asteroid as it entered the atmosphere above London ending near St. Catharines. Modelling based on Western’s fireball observations gives the same initial diameter and composition estimate of the asteroid as was found by LDT. The fireball network and telescopic methods also tightly agree on the determination of WJ1’s orbit prior to its arrival on Earth.

View of the fireball from Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory at Western University.
“This is only the second time that an asteroid has been meaningfully characterized with telescopes prior to it impacting the Earth,” said Teddy Kareta, postdoctoral associate, Lowell Observatory. “It’s a testament to our good luck and preparation, but it’s also due to the community that cares about keeping the Earth safe from these impactors learning to work together better.”
The telescopic and fireball camera data both suggest WJ1 fits into the S-chondrite category of astronomical objects, which are stony bodies rich in silica (thus the “S” designation). They are among the oldest bodies in the solar system and comprise the most common type of meteorite to hit Earth.
“This first-ever comparison between telescopic and fireball camera data is extremely exciting, and means we’ll be able to characterize the next asteroid to impact the Earth in even better detail,” said Kareta.
Likely, not all WJ1’s fragments burned up in Earth’s atmosphere. While initial meteorite searches and some Niagara region residents have searched for meteorite pieces, none have been found so far. Much of the predicted fall area is underwater in Lake Ontario. For the fall area on land, there are no plans to do any further official searching.
“Two years on, any meteorites that fell on land will have blended in with the landscape,” said Phil McCausland, a Western Earth sciences adjunct professor and Meteor Physics Group researcher. “That said, there are people in the area who are searching and know what to look for. We may still get lucky and find a meteorite or two from this fall in the coming months and years.”

A fortuitous path
WJ1 was first discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Arizona in November 2022. Soon after, astronomers predicted the object would impact Earth within three hours. This offered just enough time for scientists to telescopically observe the object while it was still in space. It also gave astronomers time to gather the asteroid’s precise position and motion to refine its orbit. Together, those factors allowed for a more accurate determination of where the asteroid would enter Earth’s atmosphere – over the Great Lakes, on the border of the United States and Canada. The predicted impact site proved fortuitous, falling right in the middle of Western’s network of meteor-observing cameras in the same region.
The few hours of advance warning about the asteroid impact allowed several members of the Western Meteor Physics Group and Western’s Institute for Earth and Space Exploration time to drive and find clear weather to watch the incoming object, the first time in history that observers were alerted to see a natural fireball.
Western physics and astronomy professor Paul Wiegert, a co-author on the study, was alerted early enough to see the fireball around 3:30 a.m.
“I watched from Brescia Hill on the Western campus. Though cold and windy, the hill had a clear view to the east, where I expected to see only a distant flash. Then the fireball suddenly appeared, passing almost overhead. It was easily visible between broken clouds and noticeably orange-red,” Wiegert said following the event.
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The LDT, stationed near Flagstaff, Ariz., was ideal for telescope viewing. Its capacity for rapid and stable tracking meant it could keep up with small and fast-moving near-Earth asteroids. Kareta, who just happened to be scheduled to observe with the LDT that night, imaged the asteroid with his team for about one hour before it was lost in the shadow of Earth.
“At the time that we lost the asteroid – when it got too dim to be seen in our images – we had the telescope moving at five degrees per second to try to keep up with it. That’s fast enough that most other telescopes would have had to give up considerably earlier,” said Kareta. “It’s tremendously fortuitous that this asteroid happened to fly over Arizona’s dark skies at night before burning up over Western’s excellent camera network. It’s hard to imagine better circumstances to do this kind of research.”