March 2022

In a moon’s subsurface ocean, water is exceptionally salty. This allows them to remain in a liquid state at low temperatures, and more importantly, possess a high conductivity. When an orbiting moon is exposed to the magnetic field of its planet, a current is induced in its hidden oceans. This, in turn, emanates its own magnetic field, which can be picked up by our equipment. However; the signals produced are far from flawless. They often return a false positive when exposed to a moon’s ionosphere, a portion of its atmosphere with a charge. A team of astronomers who recently published their work with the Advancing Earth and Space Science journal is changing this with new technology. Their technique predicts the physical properties of oceans as over 13,000 computer models, based on all detected fields. Models that best account for field measurements are selected, separating signals which come from an ionosphere, and those from an ocean. As their work advances, we grow closer to these undiscovered portions of our universe, and as we know, where there is water, there may be life.

For our next story, let’s take a look at some recent history. According to scientists at Florida State University, since the first addition of lead to gasoline in 1923, a total of 824 million IQ points have been lost by the US population. Although leaded gas was banned from car exhaust in 1996, those who were children during this window of time are at significant risks for health issues now—notably excessive ageing of the brain. On average, nearly 3 points per person were lost due to exposure, and for the youngest and most vulnerable, up to 6 IQ points were stolen. Don’t be fooled by these low numbers—only five points separate a “below-average” classification and having an intellectual disability. Aaron Reuben, lead author of the study, hopes to continue the finding by tracing the long-term effects of lead on the human brain.

Physicist Michio Kaku once said that what is “sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe”. For centuries, we have tried and failed to fully understand how the human brain learns. However; one recent study published by the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience reveals that we may be closer than ever to finding an answer. Researchers found that when individual neurons are exposed to certain input often enough, they can learn to predict the corresponding activity that follows. In following the process, we can gather information about the neurons ability to handle and store information. As the project continues to develop, it may hold the promise of a brighter future in both machine learning and neuroscience.