STEM Saturday on the Steem blockchain, Week #41: Artificial Intelligence, Citizen Science, Space Discoveries, and more...

STEM Saturday Digest - March 4, 2023

Summary by ChatGPT

A set of diverse topics were promoted this week, including the discovery of a 17-pound meteorite in Antarctica, calculations on the feasibility of the Armageddon movie, methods for participating in citizen science initiatives, the discovery of a hidden corridor in the pyramid of Cheops, techniques for soothing crying babies, and the shortened lifespan of American Honey Bees. The author of each post was set as a 5% beneficiary and all posts underwent plagiarism checks.

Please visit the /promoted page to view this week's STEM Saturday post promotions. This week's topics included technologies in healthcare; automation advances in life and chemistry; safety in air travel; and space exploration.

This was the 41^st week of our post promotions for STEM Saturday on the Steem blockchain, and our little (but growing) community now occupies the top of the /promoted page for the 41^st consecutive Saturday. Promotion prices and competition for the top of the /promoted page remain low, so I filled the page with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) posts again this week.

If you are a STEM enthusiast, please consider following the authors that you'll find in this article and also consider joining our community. If you would like your own post to be considered for STEM Saturday post promotion, please see the guidelines at the end of this post.

This week's promotions included the following posts (in alphabetical order, by author). Each author has been set as a 5% beneficiary on this post. All posts were passed through three different online plagiarism checks.

In a recent statement, Maria Valdes and her team from Chicago's Field Museum announced that their Antarctica exploration led to the discovery of a 17 pound meteorite. Meteorites generally range from the size of a pebble to a fist, with only one in 450 matching the size of the one that Valdes' team has discovered. This was comparable in size to a pumpkin, or a bowling ball. The team also returned other meteorites and antarctic soil, and all of this will be studied in the lab in order to learn more about its origins. Click through for more from @genx-miner.

A team of students from the University of Leicester has published their calculations on the physics of the 1998 film, Armageddon. In the movie, a team of astronauts journeyed to an asteroid and drilled into its core to explode a bomb that would prevent the asteroid crashing into the Earth. According to the researchers from Leicester, the explosive force needed to bring the movie to reality would require a nuclear bomb that is billions of times more explosive than Big Ivan, the largest nuke ever built. The team also reported that an asteroid like the one in the film could only be detected by a telescope with (at least) the power of the Hubble Telescope. Read more from @jorgebgt.

From protein folding to astronomy, there are numerous ways that regular people can donate computer processing power to citizen science initiatives. This post tells us about Folding@Home, BOINC, Rosetta@Home, @foldit, and @Exoplanet Watch. There are even initiatives like BANANO and GridCoin where people can earn rewards. Read all about them from @o1eh. Personally, I've been contributing to SETI@Home, World community Grid, and others since the 1990s. How 'bout you?

A team led by Sébastien Procureur used muon tomography to discover a hidden passage in the Great Pyramid of Giza - also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops. In addition to the newly discovered passage, the pyramid is also known to contain other internal structures, such as ventilation shafts, hidden chambers, and a large gallery. The corridor has been under investigation since 2016, and its existance has now been confirmed through the use of other techniques. It is about 65 feet above ground level and separated from the pyramid's outer surface by about 2 ¹/₂ to 3 feet of stone wall. The work was published in the journal, Nature. Read more from @sarahjay1.

According to an October article in Current Biology, a team of researchers led by the RIKEN Center for Brain Science found that the most effective way for resolving a baby's unexplained crying is to hold them and walk for a period of about 5 minutes. This is believed to soothe the baby by harnessing the transport response, which is present in multiple species of mammals. In the study, researchers compared this method of soothing against motionless maternal holding, or being rocked. Calming was also observed when infants were placed in a "rocking cot". Similar calming was not seen from motionless maternal holding, or from being placed in a motionless crib. This seems to be a case of science confirming something that most new parents learn pretty darned quickly. ;-) Here's the rest from @tanveer741.

From an article in Nature's Scientific Reports, @tanveer741 reports on the lifespan of American Honey Bees. Whereas these bees lived for an average of about 34 days in labs half a century ago, they now live for about 18 days. Also, their mortality rate has doubled since the early 2000s, when modern breeding protocols were introduced. In addition to having implications for research facilities, this finding may also be relevant to beekeepers who are fending off the affects of Colony Collapse Disorder. In fact, models estimate that a halving of the bee's lifetime would lead to a 33% "loss rate" in bee colonies. This is similar to the observed rates of 30-40% that are reported by beekeepers. The researchers also reported that giving the bees a variety of water types could increase their lifespans. In addition to the sugar-water that lab-kept bees are normally given, other water types included ionized, de-ionized, and tap water.

Citing articles from CNBC and US News, this article reports on advances in the business sector where AI growth is leading to job expansion and revenue increases. One example is chip manufacturer, Broadcom - whose chips are being used to power AI advances like ChatGPT. Another is Snapchat, who has launched a $3.99 per month My AI service, which is based on the ChatGPT protocol. Click through for more from @truth2.

The Community

The Popular STEM community is intended to be a place for accessible STEM conversations (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). If you have an interest in STEM topics, please come join us!

About STEM Saturday

If members would like to have your own STEM content considered for future promotions, please come join us and start contributing. I don't know how long I'll be continuing the tradition, but while I do, here are the minimum requirements for consideration (subject to change without notice ;-).

1. Original, plagiarism-free content
2. Minimum word count: currently 300 words, but this may be adjusted.
3. The content must not be cross-posted on other web sites or blockchains. Correct use of the #steemexclusive tag is encouraged.
4. English language. (sorry, it's the only one I know)
5. Because a post leaves /promoted at payout time, posts created shortly before STEM Saturday may be more likely to be chosen than older posts.

All community members are invited to create original and exclusive content that can be considered for future promotions.

Please help grow the science & technology audience on the Steem blockchain by following the Science and Technology on the Social Blockchain Facebook page then liking & sharing our links!

Visit the /promoted page and #burnsteem25 to support the inflation-fighters who are helping to enable decentralized regulation of Steem token supply growth.