Science Saturday 12/08

Hello everyone. Welcome to another Science Saturday. Here’s what’s happening:

ScienceDaily: Fractals in Medicine

Scientists are starting to use fractal mathematics to model gene interactions. Fractals are patterns found in nature which recur at progressively smaller scales. Scientists believe that because DNA interactions are not random, fractal models will simulate things like cancer growth and drug response better than current models are able to. 

LiveScience: Doggerland

Beneath the North Sea is a flooded plateau, a large area of land known as Doggerland, that was flooded by the sea 8,000 years ago. Scientists study core samples from the ocean floor in this area to determine what the area was like after the last ice age. Peat deposits, Pollen grains, and charcoal from ancient wildfires all contribute important evidence to the studies.

Astronomy.com: Exoplanets Losing Atmosperes

Astronomers using an observatory in the Canary Islands have observed exoplanets crossing in front of their host stars, accompanied by what appears to be comet-like tails. These tails are believed to be atmospheric gasses being blasted off of the planet by intense radiation. It is believed that the inner planets of our own solar system were similarly stripped of their outer gas layers.

SciTechDaily: Claims About Dark Matter Challenged

Researchers at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory in South Korea are conducting a new experiment to detect dark matter. The experiment, known as the COSINE-100 experiment, has been running since 2016, and now has initial results that dispute a previous experiment’s signal that implied a positive detection of dark matter. Whether or not dark matter is actually detected by COSINE-100, the results will give us a better understanding of the nature of dark matter.

That’s all for this week, Enjoy the weekend.

-Sal