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‘Magic Number’ that shapes cosmos nailed + K9 chemistry + Tire chemical kills salmon

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K9 chemistry: A safer way to train detection dogs
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/...120320.php

INTRO: Trained dogs are incredible chemical sensors, far better at detecting explosives, narcotics and other substances than even the most advanced technological device. But one challenge is that dogs have to be trained, and training them with real hazardous substances can be inconvenient and dangerous. NIST scientists have been working to solve this problem using a jello-like material called polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS for short. PDMS absorbs odors and releases them slowly over time. Enclose it in a container with an explosive or narcotic for a few weeks until it absorbs the odors, and you can then use it to safely train dogs to detect the real thing... (MORE - video, images)


Physicists nail down the ‘Magic Number’ that shapes the universe
https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/w...cocktails/

EXCERPT: . . . Numerically, the fine-structure constant, denoted by the Greek letter α (alpha), comes very close to the ratio 1/137. It commonly appears in formulas governing light and matter. “It’s like in architecture, there’s the golden ratio,” said Eric Cornell, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. “In the physics of low-energy matter — atoms, molecules, chemistry, biology — there’s always a ratio” of bigger things to smaller things, he said. “Those ratios tend to be powers of the fine-structure constant.”

The constant is everywhere because it characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic force affecting charged particles such as electrons and protons. “In our everyday world, everything is either gravity or electromagnetism. And that’s why alpha is so important,” said Holger Müller, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley. Because 1/137 is small, electromagnetism is weak; as a consequence, charged particles form airy atoms whose electrons orbit at a distance and easily hop away, enabling chemical bonds. On the other hand, the constant is also just big enough: Physicists have argued that if it were something like 1/138, stars would not be able to create carbon, and life as we know it wouldn’t exist.

Physicists have more or less given up on a century-old obsession over where alpha’s particular value comes from; they now acknowledge that the fundamental constants could be random, decided in cosmic dice rolls during the universe’s birth. But a new goal has taken over.

Physicists want to measure the fine-structure constant as precisely as possible. Because it’s so ubiquitous, measuring it precisely allows them to test their theory of the interrelationships between elementary particles — the majestic set of equations known as the Standard Model of particle physics. Any discrepancy between ultra-precise measurements of related quantities could point to novel particles or effects not accounted for by the standard equations. Cornell calls these kinds of precision measurements a third way of experimentally discovering the fundamental workings of the universe, along with particle colliders and telescopes.

Today, in a new paper in the journal Nature, a team of four physicists led by Saïda Guellati-Khélifa at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory in Paris reported the most precise measurement yet of the fine-structure constant. The team measured the constant’s value to the 11th decimal place, reporting that α = 1/137.03599920611. (The last two digits are uncertain.) (MORE - details)


Chemical derived from car tires turns streams toxic, kills coho salmon
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/...113020.php

RELEASE: For Pacific Northwest coho salmon, returning to spawn in the streams and creeks near urban areas can be a death sentence, thanks to a ubiquitous additive in vehicle tires, a new study reveals. The findings show that 6PPD-quinone - a highly toxic oxidation product of tire rubber particles - turns streams toxic and may be responsible for the annual die-offs observed amongst migrating adult salmon across the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

For decades, researchers have observed regular acute mortality events affecting adult coho salmon (Oncorhycchus kisutch) that migrate into urban waterways contaminated with stormwater runoff. In the most urbanized watersheds, urban runoff mortality syndrome (URMS), is estimated to kill 40-90% of returning salmon before they have a chance to spawn. While URMS has been tied to stormwater runoff and potentially linked to tire tread wear particles (TWPs) - one of the most significant sources of microplastics in freshwater - the one or more toxicants responsible for killing salmon have remained elusive.

Using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance, Zhenyu Tian and colleagues explored the compounds associated with roadway runoff and TWP to search for toxic compounds. Tian et al. found that 6PPD, the primary antioxidant chemical used in tire rubber, reacts with ozone to form the previously unidentified compound 6PPD-quinone. According to the authors, 6PPD-quinone is highly toxic and is deadly to juvenile salmon at concentrations of roughly 1 microgram per liter.

What's more, retrospective analysis suggests that this deadly compound is widespread in stormwater-impacted waterways across the U.S. West Coast. "It is unlikely that coho salmon are uniquely sensitive, and the toxicology of 6PPD transformation products in other aquatic species should be assessed," write the authors.
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