Октябрь 2024 г. |
Российская наука и мир (по материалам зарубежной электронной прессы) |
Phys.org / October 8, 2024
Anti-glitches detected in gamma-ray pulsar PSR J1522-5735
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У многих пульсаров (вращающиеся нейтронные звезды с магнитным полем, испускающие потоки излучения через определенные промежутки времени) наблюдаются «сбои» - внезапное скачкообразное увеличение частоты вращения. С другой стороны, у четырех пульсаров отмечены «антисбои» - внезапные замедления частоты вращения. Российские астрономы обнаружили антисбои у еще одного объекта - гамма-пульсара PSR J1522-5735 и предположили, что эти явления связаны с внутренним механизмом звезды.
By analyzing the data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Russian astronomers have detected anti-glitches in a gamma-ray pulsar designated PSR J1522-5735. The discovery, published September 28 on the pre-print server arXiv, makes PSR J1522-5735 one of the only few known anti-glitching gamma-ray pulsars.
Pulsars are highly magnetized rotating neutron stars emitting beams of electromagnetic radiation. Observations show that many pulsars exhibit sudden step-like increase of rotation frequency, known as glitches. However, in four pulsars, astronomers have detected anti-glitches - sudden spin-downs in the rotation frequency.
Discovered in 2013, PSR 1522-5735 is a radio-quiet gamma-ray rotation-powered pulsar in the Galactic plane, with a spin period of approximately 204 milliseconds. It has a surface magnetic field at a level of about 3.61 TG, spin-down power of 289 decillion erg/s, and its characteristic age is estimated to be 51,800 years.
Now, a team of astronomers led by Alexander Panin of the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia, reports the detection of anti-glitches in PSR 1522-5735. The discovery was made based on the data from Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) collected between August 2008 and April 2024.
"In this paper, we report on the timing analysis of over 15 years of Fermi-LAT data for the pulsar PSR J1522-5735. We detected eight glitch events, six of which were categorized as anti-glitches," the researchers wrote.
According to the study, the six anti-glitches in PSR J1522-5735 manifest as step-like changes in frequency and frequency time derivative with no post-glitch recovery terms. However, the astronomers added that a rapid recovery following anti-glitch within a few days cannot be completely ruled out due to the lack of comprehensive gamma-ray data.
All the detected anti-glitches turned out to be radiatively quiet, exhibiting no significant variations in the shape of the pulse profile or energy flux. Therefore, the authors of the paper assume that an internal mechanism is responsible for these phenomena in PSR J1522-5735.
The identification of radiation-quiet anti-glitches in a rotation-powered pulsar like PSR J1522-5735 supports the hypothesis that their potential origin may be in the neutron star's interior. Further observations, focused on the search for more anti-glitching pulsars, are required in order to confirm this assumption.
Summing up the results, the astronomers noted that PSR J1522-5735 is the newest addition to the short list of anti-glitching pulsar and that the two glitches detected besides the anti-glitch events appear to be a regular spin-up glitch and a spin-up glitch over-recovered to a spin-down.
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Tom's Hardware / October 8, 2024
Russian government to issue grants enabling companies and researchers to rent supercomputers But where do they plan to take supercomputing hardware?
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Министерство цифрового развития РФ планирует стимулировать использование суперкомпьютеров, предоставляя гранты лабораториям и компаниям, которые их арендуют. Гранты предполагается выдавать с 2025 г., а к 2030 г. мощность российских суперкомпьютеров должна увеличиться минимум в 10 раз. Неясно только, как будут создаваться новые суперкомпьютеры, учитывая проблемы с получением комплектующих, особенно высокопроизводительных процессоров.
The Russian government plans to boost supercomputer usage by offering grants to companies that rent them, reports CNews. This initiative will be instrumental in encouraging businesses and research institutions to adopt high-performance computing. With new supercomputers coming online in the coming years, Russia could increase computational power tenfold by 2030. However, it is unclear how Russia plans to build supercomputers as companies like AMD, Intel, and Nvidia cannot sell their highest-performance AI and HPC processors to Russian entities.
The Ministry of Digital Development will provide financial support to organizations using supercomputers for tasks like artificial intelligence training and simulating intricate processes, such as molecular modeling. Currently, Russian supercomputers are highly sought after by research facilities, particularly in fields that require loads of compute. According to experts, this grant program will be most valuable to scientific labs that rely on supercomputers for various simulation workloads. Businesses will also benefit from these supercomputer grants, especially in specialized industries that involve complex design and process optimization.
The high cost of acquiring and operating supercomputers is a significant hurdle for small companies. AI projects require compute GPU resources worth millions of dollars, which most startups cannot afford. These grants aim to lower financial barriers, allowing smaller businesses to access advanced technology and scale their innovations.
Despite existing investments, Russia has massive unmet demand for computational power to develop products like polymers and composites, potentially costing the market millions of dollars each year. This lack of resources hinders innovation in areas that require advanced simulations and calculations.
Institutions like ITMO University, even with newly installed supercomputing systems, face challenges in meeting their growing needs. The demand for training fundamental AI models significantly exceeds their current capabilities, confirming the need to enhance HPC capabilities in the Russian academic sector.
Major Russian companies like Yandex, Sber, Moscow State University, and MTS currently own the country's top supercomputers. Machines like Lomonosov 2 and Christofari are already running at full capacity as companies like Sber and Yandex train their AI models, whereas the MSU uses its machine for scientific tasks.
During his address to the Federal Assembly in late February 2024, the Russian president called for a tenfold performance increase of Russian supercomputers by 2030. To support this growth, the government also plans to reimburse companies building supercomputers for AI training for the costs associated with connecting them to the power grid.
One thing that is unclear is how Russian entities plan to get new supercomputers, considering U.S. restrictions on selling supercomputers and AI parts to Russian and Chinese entities. One way for Russian entities to get processors like Nvidia's H100 or H200 is to smuggle them through third countries, such as China or the UAE. However, smuggling thousands of processors is a hard and expensive task.
© Future US, Inc.
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Archaeology News / October 8, 2024
2,800-year-old Siberian burial mound with 18 sacrificed horses resembles Scythian graves
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При раскопках кургана Туннуг-1 в Республике Тыва российские и швейцарские археологи обнаружили захоронение 9 века до н. э., содержащее останки одного человека и восемнадцати лошадей. Характер находок напоминает описанные Геродотом скифские погребальные обряды.
A remarkable 2,800-year-old burial mound unearthed in southern Siberia is shedding new light on the origins of the Scythians, a nomadic people known for their horse-riding culture and elaborate funerary practices.
Discovered in the Tuva region, the burial site contains the remains of an elite individual buried with 18 sacrificed horses and at least one human, possibly a woman, who may have been sacrificed as part of the burial ritual. Researchers believe this discovery to be one of the earliest known examples of Scythian-like burial customs.
The burial mound, or kurgan, is located in an area known as the "Siberian Valley of the Kings," a valley filled with thousands of similar mounds. Through radiocarbon dating, archaeologists determined that the site dates back to the late ninth century BCE, at the transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages. The site provides some of the earliest evidence of Scythian burial practices, which would later be seen in Scythian burials across the Eurasian steppes.
According to Gino Caspari, an archaeologist at the University of Bern in Switzerland and the study’s lead researcher, "Unearthing some of the earliest evidence of a unique cultural phenomenon is a privilege and a childhood dream come true." Caspari and his team published their findings in the journal Antiquity.
The Scythians, a nomadic people who thrived between 900 and 200 BCE., were known for their exceptional horsemanship, artistry, and warrior skills. They played a significant role in the ancient world, interacting with - and often being feared by - cultures such as the Greeks, Assyrians, and Persians.
The Scythians left no written records of their own. However, fragments of their speech, known from inscriptions and words quoted by ancient authors, along with an analysis of their names, suggest that the language was Indo-European, specifically belonging to the Iranic branch of the Indo-Iranic language family.
Much of what we know about them comes from external sources, such as the Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote about their elaborate sacrificial burial rituals in the fifth century BCE. Herodotus described how the Scythians honored their deceased elite with lavish ceremonies, often sacrificing humans and horses. According to his accounts, the horses would be gutted, stuffed, and arranged alongside the sacrificed humans to appear as though they were riding around the burial mound. The discovery of the burial mound in Tuva, with its sacrificed horses and human remains, aligns closely with these descriptions, suggesting that the Scythians’ funerary practices may have deeper roots in the cultures of southern Siberia.
The artifacts found at the site, including horse-riding gear and items decorated with animals, also draw strong parallels to the later Scythian culture. Many of the horse skeletons still had brass bits lodged between their teeth, and the burial mound contained Scythian-like objects, indicating that this culture’s unique practices may have begun earlier and further east than previously thought. Caspari suggests that the funerary traditions seen in southern Siberia may have influenced later Scythian practices in areas such as Ukraine and southwest Russia.
Interestingly, the findings also point to connections between the early Scythian culture and the horse cultures of Mongolia. Researchers have noted similarities between the burial mound in Tuva and Late Bronze Age graves found in Mongolia.
Dr. Caspari and his team believe that these funerary practices may have played a crucial role in the broader cultural and political transformations that swept across Eurasia during this period. "Our findings highlight the importance of Inner Asia in the development of transcontinental cultural connections," Caspari said, adding that the discovery "suggests that these funerary practices played a role in the emergence of later pastoralist empires."
© 2024 - Archaeology News Online Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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Science X / October 9th, 2024
The Institute of Physics offers technology for creating a flexible high-temperature superconductor based on magnesium diboride
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Казанские физики разработали технологию создания гибкого высокотемпературного сверхпроводника на основе диборида магния.
Some of the key advantages of magnesium diboride superconductor are: the possibility of using energy-efficient cryocoolers for cooling; integration into the system of hybrid power transmission line based on the transmission of liquefied hydrogen and high-temperature superconducting cable, the concept and demonstration of which in Russia was realized by the All-Russian Research Design and Technological Institute of Cable Industry.
"Due to the development of cryogenic equipment in the world and achievements in the superconductor manufacturing technologies, the problem of energy saving (leaving the strategically valuable resource - helium) and cheapening the technology of their production is becoming more and more acute," Ruslan Batulin, Asssociate Professor of the Department of General Physics, Head of the Laboratory of Quantum Simulators of the Institute of Physics, says on the matter. "We started to deal with applied superconductivity relatively recently, since 2020, fruitfully cooperating with Professor of Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Lead Research Associate of the Research Laboratory of Superconducting Energy Systems, Academician Igor Rudnev, to whose memory our recent works published in Superconductor Science and Technology and Russian industry journal Kabeli i Provoda [Cables and Wires] are dedicated."
Speaking about the technology, Batulin explains that a buffer layer is applied to a flexible nickel alloy substrate, a layer of superconductor is deposited on top of it by magnetron sputtering, a protective and stabilizing layer.
Flexible high-temperature superconductor based on magnesium diboride can be used to create various magnetic systems (superconducting magnets and others), current-limiting devices, power cables, motors, generators, energy storage devices.
© Science X™ 2004-2024.
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Argus Media / 09/10/24
Russia to present climate strategy at Cop 29
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Россия готовится представить свою новую климатическую стратегию на 29-й конференции ООН по изменению климата (COP29), которая пройдет в Баку в ноябре этого года.
Russia is preparing to present its climate strategy at the UN Cop 29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November, deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said.
Novak convened a meeting with Russian ministries on climate issues on 7 October, in which a forecast for Russia's emissions rates, in line with the country's 'low emissions economic development strategy to 2050', was discussed. The strategy was approved in 2021.
It is unclear whether the strategy is linked to Russia's new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) - a climate plan to be submitted to the UN. Cop parties are expected to publish their next NDCs to the Paris climate agreement - this time for 2035 - in November-February, as part of a cycle that requires countries to "ratchet up" their commitments every five years.
Russia's president Vladimir Putin announced Russia's 2060 net zero ambitions in October 2021, but the country has not updated its NDC since 2020.
The Cop 28 agreement signed in the UAE last year included an energy section calling for "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems", a tripling of renewable capacity by 2030 and for "accelerating action in this critical decade", giving the direction countries need to take in the energy transition.
The country's main focus is on doubling the absorptive capacity of Russia's forests and producing and exporting more gas, to replace demand for more carbon-intensive oil and coal. Russia has no plans to reduce coal and oil output.
Russia's climate envoy Ruslan Edelgeriyev said in November 2022 that Moscow could achieve net zero a decade earlier than in 2060 if its access to international debt markets and technology was not blocked because of the sanctions imposed over Ukraine.
While reiterating net zero ambitions last year despite the sanctions, Putin repeatedly called accelerated decarbonisation irresponsible, claiming that it contributed to Europe's energy crisis in 2021.
© 2024 Argus Media Group Copyright.
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Natural Science News / 11th October, 2024
Parasites reveal fish in diet of Iron Age herding communities
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Археопаразитологический анализ образцов почвы из раннескифского кургана Туннуг-1 (Республика Тыва), проведенный учеными Тюменского научного центра СО РАН, показал, что рацион сибирских скотоводов железного века был более разнообразным, чем считалось ранее. Например, в него входили говядина и пресноводная рыба, причем употреблялись они зачастую в недоваренном или вовсе сыром виде.
The subsistence economies of prehistoric pastoralists in the Eurasian steppes have historically been oversimplified as primarily reliant on domesticated animals. However, recent scientific analyses have begun to change this view, revealing a more complex and adaptive economic system. A new study conducted by the Tyumen Scientific Center, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, provides significant insights into the dietary practices of Iron Age pastoralists in Siberia through archaeoparasitological analysis. The study focused on soil samples from the Tunnug 1 site in southern Siberia, revealing the presence of helminth eggs from Taenia sp. (likely), Trichuris sp., and Dibothriocephalus sp. This discovery indicates that the diet of the prehistoric population included beef and freshwater fish, occasionally consumed in undercooked or raw form. The presence of these parasites suggests a more diverse diet than previously thought, challenging the simplistic model of pastoralism.
This new evidence complements earlier findings from the region. For instance, research on the Late Bronze and Iron Age pastoralism in Northwest China demonstrated a multipurpose caprine management supplemented by limited exploitation of cattle, horses, and dogs, along with some hunting activities. This indicates that pastoral economies were more complex and varied than traditionally believed.
The Tunnug 1 study also highlights poor sanitary conditions, as evidenced by the presence of Trichuris sp. eggs. These parasites suggest the consumption of contaminated plant foods and drinking water contaminated with feces. Such findings point to the challenges faced by these communities in maintaining hygiene and preventing disease.
The integration of archaeoparasitology with other scientific methods, such as isotopic analyses, provides a more nuanced understanding of subsistence strategies. This approach aligns with previous studies on the architecture of the Early Iron Age royal burial mound Tunnug 1, which utilized a combination of remote sensing data, geoelectric resistivity, geomagnetic surveys, and photogrammetry to explore the complex funerary architecture. These interdisciplinary methods offer a comprehensive view of the past, revealing the intricate social and economic structures of these communities.
Furthermore, the study adds to the understanding of violence and political instability in the region. Previous research on perimortem trauma at Tunnug 1 indicated a high frequency of violent injuries, particularly among males, during the first centuries CE. This period of political turmoil likely influenced the dietary practices and overall lifestyle of the pastoralists, as they adapted to changing environmental and social conditions.
In summary, the new study from the Tyumen Scientific Center underscores the economic flexibility and adaptive heterogeneity of Iron Age pastoralists in Siberia. By providing direct evidence of diverse dietary practices, including the consumption of freshwater fish and the challenges of maintaining sanitary conditions, the research offers a more complex and accurate picture of prehistoric subsistence economies. This study, along with previous findings, highlights the importance of integrating multiple scientific approaches to uncover the rich and varied history of human societies in the Eurasian steppes.
© 2024 Natural Science News. All rights reserved.
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The Times of Central Asia / 11 Oct 2024
Scientists attempt to unlock the secrets of Turkic runes in Altai
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В Институте востоковедения РАН начали работу над дешифровкой уникальных тюркских рунических надписей VI-X вв. н. э., обнаруженных на территории Горного Алтая. Из 120 текстов большая часть остается непрочтенной, поскольку пока не удалось определить «ключевой» язык, который можно взять за основу.
Russian scientists have started deciphering unique Turkic runic inscriptions in Altai, dating back to the VI-X centuries AD.
Speaking at the International Conference "Mountain Altai - the ancestral home of the Turks," Alexander Vasiliev, head of the Oriental History Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reported that whilst some 120 such texts have been identified, a significant number has yet to be deciphered due to a lack of "keys". According to Vasilyev, problems in evaluating inscriptions arise as a result of the different graphic systems used by Turkic peoples in various historical periods. Hence, researchers face a difficult task in making these texts accessible and determining the exact nature of the archaeological objects found. Historians also note that with the emergence of Mongolian vertical writing, the influence of the Turkic writing system began to weaken.
Previous attempts to decipher these texts using Iranian and Finno-Ugric languages, proved unsuccessful. Assuming that the key to understanding the inscriptions lies in one of the ancient Turkic languages, scientists are now focusing on the Chuvash language, which retains ancient features, or the Kypchak language group.
The decipherment of Turkic runic inscriptions began with the discovery of the famous Orkhon-Yenisei texts in Mongolia in the 19th century. In 1893, Danish scholar Wilhelm Thomsen was the first to successfully decipher these ancient texts using analogies to ancient Turkic words such as "tengri" (sky). These inscriptions, dating from the 7th to 10th centuries, recount the lives of the Turkic kagans and their victories. In addition to the Orkhon texts, significant inscriptions have been found in the Yenisei Valley and the Altai Mountains.
An international conference in Manzherok, in the Altai Republic, brought together scholars to discuss not only the problems of deciphering the Turkic script but also the formation of the Turkic civilization and the history of cultural interaction between the Turks and other peoples, including Slavic cultures.
The Times of Central Asia © 2023.
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The Quantum Insider / October 16, 2024
Russian-led research team reports QRate’s quantum key distribution system is ready for certification
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Первая российская система квантового распределения ключей (QKD), разработанная компанией QRate, готовится к официальной сертификации. Такие системы основаны на принципах квантовой механики и используются для безопасного обмена ключами шифрования между двумя сторонами.
One of Russia’s first certified quantum key distribution systems (QKD) system is ready to undergo formal certification to ensure its resilience against known security loopholes and attacks, a critical step before commercialization.
In a study on arXiv, the Russian-led international research team reports it prepared a fiber-optic QKD system for this certification process with a battery of tests, concluding that the system seems secure. This QKD system, which appears to be domestically produced, could be used to securely exchange encryption keys between two parties by leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics. This technology ensures that any attempt to eavesdrop on the key transmission can be detected, providing an unprecedented level of security for sensitive communications, such as in financial transactions or government communications.
The study focused on preparing a QKD system by the Russian company QRate for formal certification. The system, which uses the BB84 protocol with decoy states, explained below, is designed to transmit quantum keys through fiber optics with high levels of security. The study provides an in-depth evaluation of the system, focusing on identifying potential vulnerabilities and the measures required to close security loopholes.
According to the paper, the certification of QKD systems is a critical step in the technology’s development, enabling wider deployment by ensuring that they are resistant to known attacks. International standards for QKD are still evolving, but QRate’s system has undergone rigorous scrutiny as it prepares for Russia’s own certification procedures.
The team writes: "Preparing a QKD system for certification involves (i) documenting the system in sufficient detail for it to be analysed, analyzing it, patching the security loopholes found Sajeed et al. (2021), and proposing the requirements for future certification tests. These four steps should be completed by the developer of the QKD system and possibly involve an external security analysis team. Here we perform them for a commercial system from QRate, utilising the latest developments in vulnerabilities, countermeasures, and security proofs."
Although Russian cryptographic standards are classified, the findings and processes outlined in the paper also offers a glimpse into those standards, as well as provided useful insights into the challenges faced in securing these advanced cryptographic systems.
The QRate System and BB84 Protocol
QRate’s QKD system employs a prepare-and-measure scheme based on the BB84 protocol with decoy states - a well-established quantum key distribution method that is widely regarded as secure. The system transmits polarized light pulses through optical fibers to securely share cryptographic keys between two parties, often named Alice and Bob, while preventing potential eavesdroppers, referred to as Eve, from accessing the information.
The study explains that the BB84 protocol’s use of decoy states - a method for detecting attempts to intercept or manipulate quantum keys - makes it particularly robust. In the QRate system, light pulses are encoded with information at a rate of 312.5 MHz, a notable speed that highlights its potential for real-world applications. Yet, even with this proven protocol, the authors of the study point out several potential vulnerabilities in the system’s hardware and optical components, which could be exploited if not addressed.
Identifying and Addressing Vulnerabilities
The researchers write that the certification process for QKD systems is not just about checking the encryption protocols; it also involves identifying hardware flaws that could open the door to attacks. The QRate system was found to have several potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited, such as weaknesses in the single-photon detectors (SPDs). SPDs, which are crucial for detecting the quantum bits (qubits) used in the transmission, can be vulnerable to attacks that manipulate the detection process.
The team also discusses "superlinear detector control," a type of attack where an eavesdropper can overwhelm the system’s detectors with strong light pulses, effectively blinding them and making the system vulnerable. They propose countermeasures such as photocurrent measurement, which would detect when the system is being overloaded, to prevent such attacks.
In addition to SPD vulnerabilities, the system could be exposed to "after-gate attacks" and "falling-edge attacks," both of which involve manipulating the timing of light pulses to exploit the system’s gating mechanisms. Addressing these timing-related vulnerabilities is complex, requiring precise engineering of the detectors and the quantum pulses.
The Russian Certification Process
As with most cryptographic systems, certification is essential for QKD systems to ensure their reliability and security. However, in Russia, the certification process for quantum technologies remains largely classified. The study points out that while the system has undergone rigorous internal analysis, the final certification will be carried out under Russia’s national cryptographic standards, which are not publicly available.
Despite this, the study offers an extensive outline of how QRate is preparing its system for certification, providing insights into the types of tests and evaluations required. The system will need to be tested for various optical vulnerabilities, detector mismatches, and potential side-channel attacks - where an attacker could gain information indirectly through flaws in the system’s implementation.
To mitigate the risks, QRate has implemented several hardware and software countermeasures. For example, the company has designed its system to be resistant to detector blinding attacks, a common vulnerability in QKD systems. They have also strengthened the system’s ability to handle timing mismatches in its detectors.
QKD’s National Importance
The study suggests that QRate’s system is being developed in a geopolitical context where the certification of QKD systems is becoming a matter of national importance. While international standards for quantum key distribution are still evolving, Russia is moving forward with its own certification process. This comes amid growing concerns over securing national communications infrastructure, particularly as quantum computing threatens to break traditional encryption methods in the future.
Quantum key distribution is seen as a critical technology in securing communications, not just for individuals and companies but also for governments. Scientists from China - represented on this team - have already made significant strides in deploying QKD in their communication networks, and Russia appears to be positioning itself to develop a domestic QKD systems like QRate’s.
• Research institutions involved in this include scientists from Russia, China, Thailand, Spain and Canada:
• Russia: Russian Quantum Center, Skolkovo; NTI Center for Quantum Communications, National University of Science and Technology MISiS; Steklov Mathematical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences; QRate; National Research University Higher School of Economics
• Spain: Vigo Quantum Communication Center, University of Vigo; atlanTTic Research Center, University of Vigo
• Thailand: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University; Quantum Technology Foundation, Bangkok
• Canada: Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo
• China: Institute for Quantum Information & State Key Laboratory of High Performance Computing, National University of Defense Technology.
While not officially labeled in the paper, the QKD system appears mostly domestically produced. However, the global makeup of the team at least suggests that it benefits some international expertise.
2024 © Copyright Resonance Alliance Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The Times of Central Asia / 18 Oct 2024
Archaeologists unlock secrets of ancient civilization in Turkmenistan
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Туркмено-российская Маргианская археологическая экспедиция завершает очередной полевой сезон после раскопок в городище бронзового века Гонур-Депе в пустыне Каракумы. Городище принадлежит открытой в 1970-х гг. советским археологом Виктором Сарианиди цивилизации Маргуш (Маргиана), существовавшей в дельте реки Мургаб около четырех тысяч лет назад. Среди интересных находок этого сезона - цилиндрическая печать из тальк-агальматолита и бусины из полудрагоценных камней - диаметр некоторых из них всего 1 мм. Также археологи впервые подробно описали использовавшуюся в Гонур-Депе печь для обжига гипса.
Large-scale archaeological research continues in the Karakum desert at the ancient site of Gonur-Depe. This unique monument, discovered in 1972, is the key to unlocking the mysteries of the ancient civilization Margush, which flourished in the delta of the Murghab River about four millennia ago.
The Turkmen-Russian Margush Archaeological Expedition, operating under the international agreement, is nearing the end of another field season. The scientists uniting specialists from the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Turkmen researchers continue painstaking work to study and describe numerous artifacts found at this ancient settlement.
The excavation season brought some interesting findings. Among them, a miniature cylindrical seal made of talc-agalmatolite, a fragment of a clay bulla with imprints of a snake-shaped seal, and a unique clay lid from a vessel with imprints of a rope and a cloisonné seal stands out.
Of particular interest are sets of semi-precious stone beads found in five burials. The skill of ancient jewelers has astonished modern researchers - some lapis lazuli beads have a diameter of only 1 millimeter.
Archaeologists have also conducted research aimed at studying the technologies of ancient builders. For the first time, a gypsum kiln was described in detail, making it possible to reconstruct the technological process of producing building materials in ancient Gonur-Depe.
The results of these studies will be presented at an international scientific conference in Ashgabat, where scientists from different countries will discuss the discoveries and their significance as regards understanding the history of the ancient civilization of Margiana.
The discoveries made in Gonur-Depe not only shed light on the life of the ancient inhabitants of these places but also emphasize the importance of international cooperation in archaeology and history. Each discovery brings us closer to understanding the rich cultural heritage left by an ancient civilization in the heart of the Karakum desert.
The Times of Central Asia © 2023.
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The New York Times / Oct. 22, 2024
Russia’s warming Arctic is a climate threat
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Температура в Арктике повышается в четыре раза быстрее, чем в среднем на планете, влияя, в свою очередь, на дальнейшее изменение климата. Необходимый мониторинг климатической обстановки осложняется отсутствием данных из России, на которую приходится половина арктической территории. Обмен сведениями между западными и российскими учеными снизился до минимума, остановлена работа над множеством совместных проектов. Эти «слепые пятна» не позволяют составить четкую картину того, насколько быстро нагревается Земля и осложняют разработку климатических моделей.
Western scientists studying the Arctic are increasingly lost in the hunt for data, the result of the cutoff in relations with Russia.
Crucial climate science has been stymied as Russia, which makes up over half the Arctic, continues its hostilities in Ukraine. Data flowing between Western and Russian scientists has slowed to a trickle with Western-imposed sanctions and other restrictions, interrupting work on a host of projects.
The stalled collaboration is setting back efforts to monitor the shrinking of the Arctic, which is warming four times as fast as the global average and accelerating the planet’s rise in temperature. That threatens to leave governments and policymakers without a clear picture of how fast the Earth is heating up.
"It may be impossible to understand how the Arctic is changing without Russia," said Alessandro Longhi, an Italian permafrost scientist. He spoke as he trudged through snow earlier this month with a colleague near Toolik Field Station, a research outpost run by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the northern part of the state. Western scientists, locked out of Russia, have increasingly turned to stations like these to work in the Arctic.
As the researchers headed out to collect readings on how vegetation interacts with the vulnerable permafrost soils, their prints in the snow joined with tracks of caribou, fox and ermine heading in all directions. Dr. Longhi stopped and stepped back as his colleague placed a plastic chamber over a tiny portion of the vast Arctic tundra to test whether gasses released from the permafrost varied by the plants, such as cotton grass, buried underfoot.
"This is the worst-case scenario for what may happen elsewhere," he said about the changing permafrost around Toolik.
But without windows into Russia, researchers are missing irreplaceable data on the dwindling frost. Recent studies suggest that without such information from Russian research stations, many of which have been suspended from a major Arctic monitoring network, Western scientists’ understanding of Arctic changes is being skewed toward North America and Europe.
"It makes no sense to exclude half the Arctic," said Torben Rojle Christensen, a professor at Aarhus University and the science director of Zackenberg Research Station in Greenland.
These emerging blind spots matter far beyond the Arctic. Two-thirds of Russia is covered by permafrost, frozen soil that locks up vast quantities of carbon released into the atmosphere as the ground thaws. This can drive further warming. These dangerous Arctic feedback loops make data from Russia crucial to climate models. It will be far harder to make accurate projections without it.
Scientists studying the region’s wildlife have also had projects upended. Paul Aspholm, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, had been in almost-daily contact with Russian colleagues for almost 30 years. He knows the importance of working together better than most. He can peer across the icy Arctic border between Norway and Russia from both his office and his home. He has received only three emails from researchers in Russia since he was told all contact had to stop after the invasion of Ukraine.
"We have an ‘Ice Curtain’ now," he said.
The European Union stopped funding projects involving Russia in the immediate aftermath of the Ukraine invasion. European countries, such as Finland and Norway, have encouraged their universities to freeze ties to Russian institutions and suspend existing projects. Russia has imposed hurdles of its own on cooperation with the West.
The United States, too, issued guidance that it would "wind down" scientific collaboration. The National Science Foundation, which funds many Arctic projects across the United States, has told researchers not to include Russian collaborators in proposals.
"They explicitly told us: Do not include Russia," said Vladimir Romanovsky, a Russian geophysicist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He will soon begin working with Canada instead.
Isolating Russia has created an uncomfortable moral dilemma for some climate scientists. "It is like shooting yourself in the foot," said Syndonia Bret-Harte, the science director at Toolik and a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, who had the Russian side of her own climate-related project suspended last year when the National Science Foundation pulled funding.
While some lost fieldwork can be compensated for by moving elsewhere or by peering down at Russia from satellites, there is much that requires eyes on the ground. "We are doing the best we can, but this is a crisis," Dr. Bret-Harte said.
Arctic research had been a rare success story in relations with Russia since the Cold War, even as oil-producing Russia has slowed Western efforts to confront climate change. But the networks that helped drive that research forward are unraveling. Many Russian scientists are frightened that dealing with Western colleagues could mark them as suspect. "It is very similar to what it was like in the Soviet Union," Dr. Romanovsky said. "They have to be careful."
Dr. Romanovsky oversees a network of permafrost monitoring sites across both Russia and Alaska. He said that his Russian colleagues had become increasingly nervous about receiving funds from the United States that they were owed and asked him to stop wiring them. Many had also stopped sending data the other way. He no longer expects any information from his 130 sites strung out across Russia.
The funding crunch could have longest-lasting effects. Many Russian data stations are reliant on Western projects not only for technology, but also for money that keeps the lights on. Sustaining Arctic research, which requires sending equipment and people to some of the most remote places on earth, is expensive. There are signs that Russia is turning to China to try to fill gaps. A new research station that Moscow had intended as a showcase for international Arctic science cooperation now seems likely to play host to mainly Chinese projects.
Dr. Aspholm, the Norwegian researcher, had been running projects on animals, from brown bears to salmon, with his Russian neighbors. Invasive pink salmon have thrived in warming waters in the European Arctic, and are now breeding and dying in such numbers that they are turning once-pristine Arctic creeks toxic. Studying border-hopping wildlife properly without Russian help would be virtually impossible, but he is continuing the work, for now.
"It is better to know something, rather than nothing," he said.
When the researcher took his team out for an annual bird-counting expedition along the border river, their Russian counterparts showed up on their side of the river, as they have every year for decades. They were not able to speak, but eventually they might be able to compare what they found.
Who will be left to put the pieces together is uncertain. Dr. Aspholm is expected to retire soon.
© 2024 The New York Times Company.
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Scientific American / October 24, 2024
The daring Russian geneticist whose experiments on silver foxes explained domestication has died Lyudmila Trut devoted her life to studying the process of domestication by selectively breeding friendly foxes.
- By Lee Alan Dugatkin & Aaron Dugatkin
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Статья посвящена памяти биолога и генетика Людмилы Николаевны Трут (6 ноября 1933 - 9 октября 2024), соавтора одного из самых значительных биологических экспериментов XX века. В 1959 г. Людмила Николаевна стала ведущим исследователем начатого директором Института цитологии и генетики СО АН СССР академиком Д.К.Беляевым эксперимента по одомашниванию чернобурых лис, «спрессовавшего» тысячи лет эволюции в несколько десятилетий. В его основу легла гипотеза ученого о том, что генетические изменения поведения в процессе одомашнивания животных являются ключевым фактором, ведущим к появлению новых физиологических и морфологических признаков. После смерти Д.К.Беляева в 1985 г. Людмила Трут продолжила работу. В 2019 г. на нескольких языках вышла ее книга в соавторстве с американским биологом Ли Дугаткином «Как приручить лису (и превратить в собаку)», посвященная истории эксперимента.
Lyudmila Trut, the geneticist who led the decades-long experiment that created hundreds of ultralovable domesticated foxes on a farm in Novosibirsk, Russia, died peacefully in her sleep on October 9, just shy of her 91st birthday. Over the past six decades, the work that Trut and her colleagues have done on the silver fox, a variant of the red fox, has become the gold standard for understanding the process of domestication.
When 25-year-old Trut graduated Moscow State University in 1958, she took a huge risk. Geneticist Dmitri Belyaev had asked her to head an experiment using foxes, which are closely related to dogs, to better understand how the process of domestication unfolded and what evolutionary forces were in play. The risk lay not only in the fact that an experiment on domestication in a large mammal could take decades to run but because the megalomaniacal Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko, whose denouncement of Mendelian - what he called "Western" - genetics exacerbated famines that killed millions, still wielded enough power in the Soviet Union to have people jailed for doing the genetic research that rested at the heart of the silver fox domestication experiment. Trut saw the scientific potential and accepted the risks. For the next 66 years, she devoted her life to that experiment, adopting a motto from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince: "You become responsible forever for what you have tamed."
The radical idea that Belyaev (who died in 1985) and Trut set out to test was that domestication syndrome - the phenomenon in which domesticated species share a suite of characteristics, including floppy ears, a curly tail, juvenilized facial and body features and mottled fur - was the result of our ancestors consistently breeding the calmest, friendliest animals during the early stages of domestication. They further hypothesized that all of the traits involved in domestication syndrome were linked to genes associated with calmness and a tendency to display friendly behavior toward humans. Initially Trut tested the foxes by measuring how they responded as she approached their cage, opened its door and then placed her hand - which was protected by a very thick glove that went up to her elbow - into it. The most placid foxes were selected to breed the next generation. Over time, the details of that protocol have changed, but the basic approach remains the same. Ultimately the results of the experiments supported Trut and Belyaev’s ideas, revolutionizing scientific understanding of domestication.
We visited Novosibirsk in the winter of 2012 and again during the winter of 2014 to do work on a book about the fox experiment. Trut, ever the scientist, was certainly in full gear during those visits, eager to give us every detail of what had happened over the course of the experiment. But what really struck us was what a kind and caring person she was. On our first visit, when we landed at Tolmachevo Airport on an absolutely frigid Siberian winter night, we knew a driver would be there to meet us and take us to our hotel. What we didn’t know was that 78-year-old Trut would be there as well, smiling and welcoming her American guests to her beloved home country.
A devoted host who made us feel right at home in a faraway land, Trut greeted us each morning with a plate of local sweets and an offering of "coffee or tea?" which soon morphed into "coffee or tea or hot chocolate?" when she intuited that one of us (Aaron Dugatkin), who was a teenager at the time, might appreciate such things. A few days later, amid this constant flow of refreshments, Trut told a moving story about Pushinka, a special fox she had lived with for a period of months during the early 1970s in a tiny house on the experimental farm. The idea was to see whether the experiment had already produced foxes so calm and friendly that people could live with them, as we do with dogs. During their time together, Trut and Pushinka formed a remarkable bond. Pushinka would sneak into Trut’s bedroom late at night and cozy up next to her in bed. And when Pushinka gave birth, she even took one of the newborns and placed it into Trut’s lap. Trut would take Pushinka and her pups on walks, play with them and call them by name. Within just 15 generations of selective breeding, the experiment had yielded foxes that could live with people.
By the time of our visit, that house had fallen into an awful state of disrepair, but despite the fact there was more than two feet of snow on the ground, Trut - who stood barely five feet tall herself - insisted on leading us there to give us a tour through the frigid ruins of the building. It was the least she could do, both for her guests and for her dear friend Pushinka.
Humble by nature, Trut tended to answer questions about her role in the fox project by paying tribute to her mentor, Belyaev. But Trut was the one who devised the specific experiments and who, day after day - for more than 23,000 days - led the work. That effort required more than just a scientific skill set. In the 1990s, as Russia’s government underwent massive changes following the fall of the Soviet Union, funding for science fell to the wayside, and the fox experiment was at risk of ending. Trut would not allow that. Some days, she and her team stood on the side of a road near the experimental farm and waved down passing cars, soliciting donations to keep her beloved foxes fed and healthy and the experiment going. She also reached out and published an article in American Scientist that not only detailed the pathbreaking work they had already done but also explained why the experiment must continue. That article generated enough publicity (and funding) to save the day and keep the experiment alive.
Toward the end of our last visit, we asked Trut about her hopes for the future. "One day I will be gone," she replied, "but I want my foxes to live forever."
© 2024 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Phys.org / October 24, 2024
Astronomers discover a bright pulse that may be a fast radio burst
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Сотрудники Пущинской радиоастрономической обсерватории зафиксировали на расстоянии около 2,3 мрд световых лет яркий импульс на частоте 111 МГц, который может оказаться быстрым радиовсплеском. Быстрые радиовсплески - мощные импульсы радиоизлучения длительностью в несколько миллисекунд. Природа этих сигналов пока неизвестна.
Searching for pulsars using the Large Phased Array (LPA) radio telescope, Russian astronomers have detected a bright pulse at a frequency of 111 MHz, which appears to be a fast radio burst event. The finding was reported in a research paper published October 17 on the pre-print server arXiv.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are intense bursts of radio emission lasting milliseconds showcasing the characteristic dispersion sweep of radio pulsars. The physical nature of these bursts is yet unknown, and astronomers consider a variety of explanations ranging from synchrotron maser emission from young magnetars in supernova remnants to cosmic string cusps.
In general, FRBs are individual pulses with widths from 0.08 to 26 milliseconds and their dispersion measures usually range from 109 to 2,600 pc/cm3. Among the instruments capable of detecting pulses with such properties is LPA - one of the most sensitive radio telescopes operating at meter wavelengths.
Recently, a team of astronomers led by Sergey Tyul'bashev of the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory in Russia, have detected an interesting pulse that may be an FRB. The discovery was made as part of the Pushchino Multibeams Pulsar Search (PUMPS) project, during a technical assessment of the quality of observations carried out with LPA of the Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI).
The discovered pulse lasted 211 milliseconds, had a dispersion measure of approximately 134.4 pc/cm3 and a peak flux density at a level of 20 Jy. The large dispersion measure of the pulse suggests its extragalactic origin and corresponds to a luminosity distance of about 2.3 billion light years.
According to the paper, the obtained properties indicate that the observed pulse is one of the most powerful fast radio bursts and the astronomers designated it FRB 20190203. The astronomers note that so far, no repeated radio bursts from FRB 20190203 have been detected, nor any activity has been observed in the gamma-ray range.
If the nature of FRB 20190203 is confirmed, it will make it the first burst of extragalactic origin discovered in the PUMPS survey. It is also the second FRB detected at such a low frequency (111 MHz), and the first one among non-repeating FRBs.
When it comes to the origin of FRB 20190203, the authors of the study propose the synchrotron maser emission scenario.
"In our opinion, the observed properties of FRB 20190203 are best explained by the model of a synchrotron maser source excited by a magnetar," the researchers conclude.
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Live Science / Oct. 29 2024
Pazyryk swan: A 2,400-year-old plush swan from Siberia tied to the "creation of the universe" Archaeologists think the felt figurine was used as a symbol of life by the Iron Age people of the region.
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В 1949 г. советские археологи обнаружили в одном из пазырыкских курганов в Горном Алтае необычную фигурку лебедя из разноцветного войлока, набитую оленьей шерстью, возрастом около 2400 лет. По мнению ученых, фигурка могла размещаться на погребальной колеснице или шатре.
Along with other treasures, the nearly 12-inch-tall (30 centimeters) swan was discovered in a burial mound in the Pazyryk Valley of the Altai Mountains, near Russia's borders with Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia.
Archaeologists think the figurine dates to the fifth or fourth century B.C. The swan's body is made from reindeer wool that has been processed into white felt, while the beak, eyes and wing tips are made from black felt. Reddish-brown felt was used for the "feet," and the figurine is stuffed with reindeer wool.
The feet also contain wooden sticks that support the swan in an upright position. Curators at Russia's Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, where it is on display, think these sticks were used to mount the swan on a wooden chariot found nearby, or perhaps on the top of a tent-like structure erected over the burial mound but which rotted away long ago.
According to the museum, the swan symbolized life in three spheres: air, land and water.
The swan or a similar water bird also may have featured in a creation myth: there was "a widespread concept of the creation of the universe by a swan, duck or goose, which was characteristic of many cosmogonical conceptions in ancient times," according to the museum.
Archaeologists from the Soviet Union began excavating the ancient burial mounds in the Pazyryk Valley in the 1920s and found the felted swan in 1949, according to the University of Washington.
Because the region is high - and therefore cold - many of the burial mounds are perpetually frozen and have preserved many organic materials, including human remains.
© Future US, Inc.
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Phys.org / October 29, 2024
Experimental setup simulates Arctic methane explosions
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Российские исследователи разработали экспериментальную установку, которая поможет моделировать газодинамические процессы и прогнозировать подземные взрывы метана в Арктике.
Russian researchers have developed an experimental setup that will help simulate gas-dynamic processes and predict explosions in Arctic soils.
Over the past decade, global warming has caused permafrost to thaw, leading to more frequent explosions of subglacial methane. It is vital to prevent these events, which pose a major threat to gas pipelines, production wells, and other engineering facilities, as well as to local populations and livestock.
In addition, the simulation will help assess the impact of these explosive emissions on the climate: Methane is 28 times more efficient than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Experts claim it is impossible to predict a gas explosion, but there are ways to make some facilities safer through monitoring, and also to anticipate the intensity of emissions in certain areas.
Rock permeability - a key parameter for understanding and predicting methane eruptions - indicates whether and how easily gas can seep through the ground. Permafrost is usually taken to be impervious to gas up until the point when it thaws, whereupon its permeability is determined by soil composition and calculated for fixed conditions defined by industry standards.
This simplified approach, however, does not allow gas eruptions to be predicted accurately, because it ignores a variety of changing and interrelated natural factors such as temperature, pressure, and soil saturation with unfrozen water and hydrates. This has led the scientists to propose a new approach, now published in Cold Regions Science and Technology.
"Until recently, Russia lacked the experimental facilities for studying the behavior of several parameters of ice hydrates at once. Most of the solutions used in other countries also operate under fixed conditions.
"We propose studying a wider range of conditions and parameter behaviors to better reflect reality. Now we can simulate interesting natural scenarios and test various theoretical propositions, getting closer to predicting methane eruptions from permafrost," says Maxim Zhmaev, an engineer at Skoltech Petroleum and a Ph.D. student in Skoltech's Petroleum Engineering program.
In the Arctic, natural gas slowly accumulates in the upper horizons of the permafrost, both on land and underwater, forming huge deposits. When the pressure reaches critical levels, the gas erupts from the frozen rock to the surface. On land, the explosions are often accompanied by fires. Large debris is thrown tens of meters into the air and a huge crater is formed. Over time, it fills with water and resembles a natural lake, experts say.
Skotlech's new apparatus is designed to perform experiments on frozen rock samples and to simulate a wide range of natural conditions by varying the ambient temperature and gas pressure according to a specified pattern.
The unique sample holder helps to compact the soil during the experiment and to measure changes in its linear dimensions and therefore porosity. The facility is equipped with acoustic sensors to detect changes in the ratio of ice, unfrozen water, and other phase components.
In this way, it is possible not only to measure gas permeability, but also to begin to study the complex processes that occur in real soil.
"Our trial experiments using this new test unit have shown that the proposed approach works. For example, we were able to measure the critical temperatures at which the frozen but somewhat heated rock becomes partially permeable.
"We also investigated the range of pressures that are quite high, but not high enough to cause the formation of gas hydrates. This is a big step forward from determining soil properties to a more detailed and realistic simulation of natural processes, such as gas eruptions from the permafrost," says Evgeny Chuvilin, the study's principal investigator and a leading research scientist at Skoltech's Petroleum Center.
Predicting gas explosions in the North
According to Vasily Bogoyavlensky, the deputy director for science at the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems of RAS, explosions in the Arctic will continue, but their timing and location cannot be predicted with certainty.
As with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, predictions can only be made through continuous monitoring of individual formations, based on the changes in their behavior detected by instruments. And even then, this would only be a prediction of a fairly long-term probability of an event.
"We have been studying explosions in the Arctic for 10 years and know almost everything about them. The rapid growth of a mound is the key indicator of an impending eruption. Of the two mounds we studied this year one exploded on August 30. Its growth rate was unusually high, more than 50 centimeters per year. Mounds can be monitored from space. We are currently looking at potentially dangerous spots in the Bovanenkovskoye field in Yamal," Bogoyavlensky said.
Nevertheless, he added that the simulation using the new apparatus will be useful for understanding how and at what temperature various soils start to leak gas.
Igor Shkradyuk, the coordinator of the industrial greening program of the Biodiversity Conservation Center, said that while individual explosive events cannot be predicted, the increase in their intensity can be.
"Methane, which is produced by the fermentation of biomass, has a close cousin, the marsh gas, which sometimes bubbles up and catches fire. Trapped in the permafrost, methane has accumulated underground for tens of thousands of years. As the permafrost thaws, the gas escapes," said Shkraduyk, who also serves as an expert at the International Socio-Ecological Union.
There are 6 billion tons of methane underground, hundreds of times more than in the atmosphere. As the ice thaws, emissions occur much more often than a decade ago, and the trend will continue. There are about 2,000 seeps at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, and many more on polar islands. Their explosions can be compared to the detonation of a 10-ton TNT bomb, Shkradyuk added.
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