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Psilocybin rapidly promotes neuroplasticity in the brains of rats
The compound found in "magic mushrooms" has significant and fast-acting impact on the brains of rats.
Credit: kichigin19/ Adobe Stock
- Psilocybin and psilocin are chemical compounds found in "magic mushrooms."
- A recent study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found very interesting results when psilocybin was administered to rats to research the potential impact the chemical could have on the human brain.
- Several studies have suggested that psilocybin could be a treatment for depression.
A recent study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found very interesting results when psilocybin was administered to rats to research the potential impact the chemical could have on the human brain.
Psilocybin increases the expression of several genes related to neuroplasticity in the brain of rats after just one dose.
What is psilocybin?
Psilocybin and psilocin are chemical compounds found in "magic mushrooms." These are typically obtained from certain types of dried or fresh mushrooms found in places such as Mexico and South America. These compounds have a similar structure to lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and are often abused for their hallucinogenic and euphoric effects.
What is neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through both growth and reorganization, and the above increases/decreases of certain genes provoked by psilocybin is a form of neuroplasticity that happens in response to even small doses of psilocybin (magic mushrooms)
The study: magic mushrooms and the prefrontal cortex/hippocampus of rats
Psilocybin increases the expression of several genes related to neuroplasticity in the brain of rats after just one dose.
Photo by bukhta79 on Adobe Stock
The study examined the acute effects of a single dose (0.5-20mg/kg) of psilocybin on the brain of rats. In total, 45 genes and 8 reference genes were assessed using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The corresponding protein levels of the three most commonly regulated genes were then assessed using Western blotting.
In the prefrontal cortex, the drug increased the expression of the following:
- CEBPB (protein-coding gene)
- c-Fos (a proto-oncogene)
- DUSP-1 (protein-coding gene)
- FOSB (protein-coding gene)
- JunB (protein-coding gene)
- IkBa (inhibitor gene)
- Nr4a1 (growth factor gene)
- P11 (protein)
- Psd95 (protein)
- SGK1 (protein-coding gene)
The drug also decreased the expression of CLK1, an enzyme that, in humans, is encoded by the CLK1 gene.
In the hippocampus, psilocybin strongly increased the expression of:
The drug also decreased the expression of ARC (neuronal gene encoder), CLK1, EGR2 (protein-coding), and PTGS2 (protein-coding). The protein levels of certain genes (IkBa, DUSP1, and SGK1) showed only partial agreement with transcriptional patterns, which stresses the importance of assessing downstream translation with these kinds of rapid gene responses.
What does this mean?
This study demonstrates that psilocybin not only includes gene expression that's heavily related to neuroplasticity, but it does so as a very rapid response to the chemical. The results were biased towards the prefrontal cortex compared to the hippocampus, but the findings of this study provide undeniable evidence for the rapid plasticity-promoting effects of psilocybin.
Can magic mushrooms treat depression?
Several studies (including this one from 2017) have suggested that psilocybin could be a treatment for depression. In this study, 19 patients were given two incrementally larger doses of psilocybin administered one week apart. MRI scans were taken of the brains of patients before and after the doses were administered. The results of the study showed that the chemical reduced and then increased the amount of blood flow to (and thus changing the activity levels of) different regions of the brain, some of which are associated with depressive symptoms.
The patients of this study also self-reported improved mood spikes lasting for up to five weeks after the ingestion of psilocybin. The patients even explained that they felt as though their brains had been "reset" or "rebooted" - this effect being known (in unscientific settings) as the "afterglow" of psilocybin use.
Psychedelic drugs (like psilocybin) may hold untold potential in treating not only depression but anxiety and addiction, as well.
While researchers are still pursuing how psychedelics like psilocybin could be beneficial to human brains, there are some theories surrounding how psychedelics could help in addiction therapies.
"People will often report a changed relationship in observing themselves. I think this is much like what we refer to as mindfulness: someone's ability to view their own motivations and behaviour from a more detached and less judgemental perspective," said Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychology at Johns-Hopkins University who is testing psilocybin in a trial aimed at nicotine addiction.
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- From mushrooms to ecstasy, a renaissance in psychedelics research ›
- Magic in those mushrooms: first psilocybin research center to open ... ›
- Psychedelics may be a powerful treatment for alcoholism - Big Think ›
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A brief history of human dignity
What is human dignity? Here's a primer, told through 200 years of great essays, lectures, and novels.
30 November, 2020
Credit: Benjavisa Ruangvaree / AdobeStock
Sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies
- Human dignity means that each of our lives have an unimpeachable value simply because we are human, and therefore we are deserving of a baseline level of respect.
- That baseline requires more than the absence of violence, discrimination, and authoritarianism. It means giving individuals the freedom to pursue their own happiness and purpose.
- We look at incredible writings from the last 200 years that illustrate the push for human dignity in regards to slavery, equality, communism, free speech and education.
<p>In a <em>New York Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html" target="_blank">essay</a> published the day of his funeral on July 30, 2020, Congressman John Lewis wrote that his "last days and hours"—in which he watched widespread protests over George Floyd's murder and saw a square in downtown D.C. christened Black Lives Matter Plaza—filled him with hope. "Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity."</p>
<p>Human dignity is a powerful phrase invoked to peacefully protest against violence, discrimination, and authoritarianism. But when we talk about human dignity, what do we mean?</p>
The inherent worth of all human beings
<p>Human dignity is the inherent worth of each individual human being. Recognizing human dignity means respecting human beings' special value—value that sets us apart from other animals; value that is intrinsic and cannot be lost.</p> <p>Liberalism—the broad political philosophy that organizes society around liberty, justice, and equality—is rooted in the idea of human dignity. Liberalism assumes each of our lives, plans, and preferences have some unimpeachable value, not because of any objective evaluation or contribution to a greater good, but simply because they belong to a human being. We are human, and therefore deserving of a baseline level of respect. </p> <p>Because so many of us take human dignity for granted—just a fact of our humanness—it's usually only when someone's dignity is ignored or violated that we feel compelled to talk about it. </p> <p>But human dignity means more than the absence of violence, discrimination, and authoritarianism. It means giving individuals the freedom to pursue their own happiness and purpose—a freedom that can be hampered by restrictive social institutions or the tyranny of the majority. The liberal ideal of the good society is not just peaceful but also pluralistic: It is a society in which we respect others' right to think and live differently than we do.</p>From the 19th century to today
<p>With <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?year_start=1800&year_end=2019&content=human+dignity&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Chuman%20dignity%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Books Ngram Viewer</a>, we can chart mentions of human dignity from 1800-2019.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0ODU0My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTUwMzE4MX0.bu0D_0uQuyNLyJjfRESNhu7twkJ5nxu8pQtfa1w3hZs/img.png?width=980" id="7ef38" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9974c7bef3812fcb36858f325889e3c6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>We can also map human dignity against mentions of liberalism to see that discussion of human dignity increased with discussion of liberalism. </p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0ODU0NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjM0ODMzM30.BzxT9Y1Zg5nE-PuQ2enrBn8FXs3HauET23enIw9rH34/img.png?width=980" id="9a5d2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0f2270501d92035c19cad5fc758b55e1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Then we can search through individual mentions to find how human dignity was discussed and understood over the last 200 years.</p>
<p>For example, German rabbi Dr. Samuel Hirsch gave a lecture in 1853 on "<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Advocate/s1ccAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22human+dignity%22&pg=PA421&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Religion of Humanity</a>" in which he condemned slavery. "That which we love in ourselves, our true human dignity, compels us to recognize and love the same human dignity in all others," Hirsh said. He wrote:</p>
<p style="margin-left: 20px;">If I can look upon my brother-man as a creature, as a thing void of any will of his own, instead of as a free personality, that furnishes ample proof that I have not yet recognized the true human dignity in myself. To own slaves is spiritual suicide and homicide. This sin is in no way excusable on account of the kind treatment accorded to the slaves by their owner, as he never can treat them humanely. When man becomes a piece of property he is robbed of his human dignity. </p>
<p>In 1917, Kansas State Normal School <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Teaching/JMTSWAhrxSMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22human+dignity%22&pg=RA20-PA16&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">published</a> a journal on teaching that called for instructors to help each pupil "make completer use of his one lifetime" because "an abundant life, a life of awareness, a life of dignity is an undertaking worthy of gods." </p>
<p>Thomas Bell's 1941 novel <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Out_Of_This_Furnace/TWLtI_V5YB4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22human+dignity%22&pg=PA411&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Out of the Furnace</em></a> centered on an immigrant Slovak family in Pennsylvania. A character muses that it wasn't "where you were born or how you spelled your name or where your father had come from" that mattered; instead,</p>
<p style="margin-left: 20px;">It was the way you thought and felt about certain things. About freedom of speech and the equality of men and the importance of having one law—the same law—for rich and poor, for the people you liked and the people you didn't like. About the right of every man to live his life as he thought best, his right to defend it if anyone tried to change it and his right to change it himself if he decided he liked some other way of living better…. About human dignity, which helped a man live proudly and distinguished his death from animals; and finally, about the value to be put on a human life, one's enemy's no less than one's own. </p>
<p>In a 1953 <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Progress_and_Human_Dignity/i4BMAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22human+dignity%22&pg=PP8&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">speech</a>, then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles argued that communist countries might be able to achieve short-term material gain, but "results so produced are not a glory but a shame. They are achieved by desecrating the dignity of the human individual." Dulles believed human dignity meant being entitled to a life that included physical well-being and "freedom to think, to believe, and to communicate with one's fellows," "opportunities which permit some exercise of individual choices," and "the contemplation and enjoyment of what is beautiful." </p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0ODU4OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTkzNDQwMX0.oF6SRe8h4isr9BMUowNloz-wDivX95L8Gr739uCooIo/img.jpg?width=980" id="363c2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f90e6b1f91456d023b5cf3f376463ede" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
American novelist, writer, playwright, poet, essayist and civil rights activist James Baldwin at his home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southern France, on November 6, 1979.
Credit: Ralph Gatti/AFP via Getty Images
<p>One hundred years after U.S. law stopped allowing Black Americans to be treated as property, Black writer James Baldwin was still <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilychamleewright/2020/06/30/living-up-to-the-liberal-promise/#784c5cc65139" target="_blank">calling</a> for Black Americans' dignity to be equally recognized. It was not enough, not nearly enough, that the 14th Amendment ensured equal protection of the laws; what mattered was how Black Americans were treated by their fellow human beings. In a 1960 Canadian television <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPaBXcEVpOE" target="_blank">interview</a>, Baldwin said, "I don't know what white people see, you know, when they look at a Negro anymore. But I do know very well—I realized when I was very young—that whatever he was looking at, it wasn't me… I was not a <em>man</em>."</p><p>In his seminal 1963 book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Next-Time-James-Baldwin/dp/067974472X" target="_blank"><em>The Fire Next Time</em></a>, Baldwin seemed to echo Dr. Hirsh's argument from a century earlier:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">I am very much concerned that American Negroes achieve their freedom here in the United States. But I am also concerned for their dignity, for the health of their souls, and must oppose any attempt that Negroes may make to do to others what has been done to them. I think I know—we see it around us every day—the spiritual wasteland to which that road leads. It is so simple a fact and one that is so hard, apparently, to grasp: <em>Whoever debases others debases himself.</em></p><p>This, then, is a common thread in our historic understanding of human dignity: Anyone who treats another human being as less than human undermines <em>their own</em> human dignity in addition to undermining the dignity of their victim.</p>A 1964 <em>New York University Law Review</em> <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Philosophical_Dimensions_of_Privacy/q_FrmXyl3hUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22human+dignity%22&pg=PA156&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">article</a> argued that privacy was a key aspect of human dignity. "A man whose home may be entered at the will of another, whose conversation may be overheard at the will of another, whose marital and familial intimacies may be overseen at the will of another, is less of a man, has less human dignity, on that account," wrote author Edward J. Bloustein, who later became president of Rutgers University.
The future of dignity
<p>Around the world, people are still working toward the full and equal recognition of human dignity. Every year, new speeches and writings help us understand what dignity is—not only what it looks like when dignity is violated but also what it looks like when dignity is honored. In his posthumous essay, Congressman Lewis wrote, "When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war."</p> <p>The more we talk about human dignity, the better we understand it. And the sooner we can make progress toward a shared vision of peace, freedom, and mutual respect for all. </p>
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Mathematical model shows how the Nazis could have won WWII's Battle of Britain
With just a few strategical tweaks, the Nazis could have won one of World War II's most decisive battles.
19 January, 2020
Photo: Heinrich Hoffmann/ullstein bild via Getty Images
Politics & Current Affairs
- The Battle of Britain is widely recognized as one of the most significant battles that occurred during World War II. It marked the first major victory of the Allied forces and shifted the tide of the war.
- Historians, however, have long debated the deciding factor in the British victory and German defeat.
- A new mathematical model took into account numerous alternative tactics that the German's could have made and found that just two tweaks stood between them and victory over Britain.
<p><br></p></div>
<p>Soon after the Nazis took control of France in June 1940 they began a military campaign against Britain. For three months, the Luftwaffe bombed targets in Britain, countered by the Royal Air Force (RAF). Their targets were sporadic: First, the Luftwaffe attacked ports and shipping centers, then RAF bases, then strategic infrastructure, and finally, civilians and politically significant sites. This military campaign was known as the Battle of Britain, which included the series of high-intensity night bombings known as the Blitz.</p><p>Defeating the RAF was crucial before the German army could launch a land invasion of Britain, but ultimately, the military campaign became too costly for the German forces to sustain. The planned invasion was called off, and the campaign against Britain shifted its focus to blockading the island nation's access to the sea. This would become the German's first major defeat in the war and form a crucial turning point that would define its remainder.</p><p>In part, the British victory was won by the German's lack of preparation. Hitler never expected to need to invade Britain; after France fell, he expected Britain would recognize "<a href="https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/history-of-the-battle-of-britain/operation-sealion.aspx" target="_blank">her hopeless military situation</a>" and agree to the favorable terms of surrender he had put forth. Historians have long debated what the Luftwaffe could have accomplished had the Germans developed a more comprehensive strategy.</p>
Two strategic blunders
<p>Now, historians and mathematicians from York St. John University have collaborated to produce <a href="http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~nm15/bootstrapBoB%20AAMS.docx" target="_blank">a statistical model (docx download)</a> capable of calculating what the likely outcomes of the Battle of Britain would have been had the circumstances been different. </p><p>Would the German war effort have fared better had they not bombed Britain at all? What if Hitler had begun his bombing campaign earlier, even by just a few weeks? What if they had focused their targets on RAF airfields for the entire course of the battle? Using a statistical technique called weighted bootstrapping, the researchers studied these and other alternatives.</p><p>"The weighted bootstrap technique allowed us to model alternative campaigns in which the Luftwaffe prolongs or contracts the different phases of the battle and varies its targets," said co-author Dr. Jaime Wood in a <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2020/research/mathematicians-battle-britain-what-if-scenarios/" target="_blank">statement</a>. Based on the different strategic decisions that the German forces could have made, the researchers' model enabled them to predict the likelihood that the events of a given day of fighting would or would not occur.</p><p>"The Luftwaffe would only have been able to make the necessary bases in France available to launch an air attack on Britain in June at the earliest, so our alternative campaign brings forward the air campaign by three weeks," continued Wood. "We tested the impact of this and the other counterfactuals by varying the probabilities with which we choose individual days."</p><p>Ultimately, two strategic tweaks shifted the odds significantly towards the Germans' favor. Had the German forces started their campaign earlier in the year and had they consistently targeted RAF airfields, an Allied victory would have been extremely unlikely.</p><p>Say the odds of a British victory in the real-world Battle of Britain stood at 50-50 (there's no real way of knowing what the actual odds are, so we'll just have to select an arbitrary figure). If this were the case, changing the start date of the campaign and focusing only on airfields would have reduced British chances at victory to just 10 percent. Even if a British victory stood at 98 percent, these changes would have cut them down to just 34 percent.</p>A tool for understanding history
<p>This technique, said co-author Niall Mackay, "demonstrates just how finely-balanced the outcomes of some of the biggest moments of history were. Even when we use the actual days' events of the battle, make a small change of timing or emphasis to the arrangement of those days and things might have turned out very differently."</p><p>The researchers also claimed that their technique could be applied to other uncertain historical events. "Weighted bootstrapping can provide a natural and intuitive tool for historians to investigate unrealized possibilities, informing historical controversies and debates," said Mackay.</p><p>Using this technique, researchers can evaluate other what-ifs and gain insight into how differently influential events could have turned out if only the slightest things had changed. For now, at least, we can all be thankful that Hitler underestimated Britain's grit.</p>
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We’ve mapped a million previously undiscovered galaxies beyond the Milky Way. Take the virtual tour here.
See the most detailed survey of the southern sky ever carried out using radio waves.
01 December, 2020
Photo by Štefan Štefančík on Unsplash
Surprising Science
Astronomers have mapped about a million previously undiscovered galaxies beyond the Milky Way, in the most detailed survey of the southern sky ever carried out using radio waves.
<p>The <a href="https://research.csiro.au/racs/" target="_blank">Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey</a> (or RACS) has placed the CSIRO's <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/Facilities/ATNF/ASKAP" target="_blank">Australian SKA Pathfinder</a> radio telescope (ASKAP) firmly on the international astronomy map.</p><p>While past surveys have taken years to complete, ASKAP's RACS survey was conducted in less than two weeks — smashing previous records for speed. Data gathered have produced images five times more sensitive and twice as detailed as previous ones.</p>
<h2>What is radio astronomy?</h2><p>Modern astronomy is a multi-wavelength enterprise. What do we mean by this?</p><p>Well, most objects in the universe (including humans) emit radiation over a broad spectrum, called the electromagnetic spectrum. This includes both visible and invisible light such as X-rays, ultraviolet light, infrared light and radio waves.</p><p>To understand the universe, we need to observe the entire electromagnetic spectrum as each wavelength carries different information.</p><p>Radio waves have the longest wavelength of all forms of light. They allow us to study some of the most extreme environments in the universe, from cold clouds of gas to supermassive black holes.</p><p>Long wavelengths pass through clouds, dust and the atmosphere with ease, but need to be received with large antennas. Australia's wide open (but relatively low-altitude) spaces are the perfect place to build large radio telescopes.</p><p>We have some of the most spectacular views of the centre of the Milky Way from our position in the Southern Hemisphere. Indigenous astronomers have appreciated this benefit for millennia.</p>
<h2>A stellar breakthrough</h2><p>
Radio astronomy is a <a href="https://public.nrao.edu/radio-astronomy/the-history-of-radio-astronomy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relatively new field</a> of research, dating back to the 1930s.
</p><p>
The first detailed 30cm radio map of the southern sky — which includes everything a telescope can see from its location in the Southern Hemisphere — was Sydney University's <a href="http://www.astrop.physics.usyd.edu.au/sumss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Molonglo Sky Survey</a>. Completed in 2006, this survey took almost a decade to observe 25% of the entire sky and produce final data products.
</p><p>
Our team at CSIRO's Astronomy and Space Science division has smashed this record by surveying 83% of the sky in just ten days.
</p><p>
With the <a href="https://research.csiro.au/racs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RACS survey</a> we produced 903 images, each requiring 15 minutes of exposure time. We then combined these into one map covering the entire area.
</p><p>
The resulting panorama of the radio sky will look surprisingly familiar to anyone who has looked up at the night sky themselves. In our photos, however, nearly all the bright points are entire galaxies, rather than individual stars.
</p><p>
Take our <a href="https://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/RACS/RACStour/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">virtual tour</a> below.
</p><iframe src="https://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/RACS/RACStour/index.html" width="100%" height="500px"></iframe><p>
Astronomers working on the catalogue have identified about three million galaxies — considerably more than the 260,000 galaxies identified during the Molonglo Sky Survey.
</p><h2>Why do we need to map the universe?</h2><p>
We know how important maps are on Earth. They provide crucial navigational assistance and offer information about terrain which is useful for land management.
</p><p>
Similarly, maps of the sky provide astronomers with important context for research and statistical power. They can tell us how certain galaxies behave, such as whether they exist in clusters of companions or drift through space on their own.
</p><p>
Being able to conduct an all-sky survey in less than two weeks opens numerous opportunities for research.
</p><p>
For example, little is known about how the radio sky changes over timescales of days to months. We can now regularly revisit each of the three million galaxies identified in the RACS catalogue to track any differences.
</p><p>
Also, some of the largest unanswered questions in astronomy relate to how galaxies became the elliptical, spiral, or irregular shapes we see. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-a-beginners-guide-to-the-galaxy-49" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">popular theory</a> suggests large galaxies grow via the merger of many smaller ones.
</p><p>
But the details of this process are elusive and difficult to reconcile with simulations. Understanding the 13 billion or so years of our universe's cosmic history requires a telescope that can see across vast distances and accurately map everything it finds.
</p><p>
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371886/original/file-20201130-19-9m28tm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt="Image of the Centaurus A galaxy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371886/original/file-20201130-19-9m28tm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip"></a>
</p><p>
The giant Centaurus A galaxy was one elliptical galaxy captured in the RACS survey. Although more than ten million light years away, it's one of the closest radio galaxies to Earth. You can see its 'intensity' represented by different colours. (CSIRO, Author provided)
</p>
<h2>High technology putting new goals within reach</h2><p>The CSIRO's RACS survey is an amazing advance made possible by huge leaps in space tech. The <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/Facilities/ATNF/ASKAP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ASKAP radio telescope</a>, which became fully operational in February last year, was designed for speed.</p><p>CSIRO's engineers developed innovative radio receivers called "<a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/Astronomy/ASKAP-and-the-Square-Kilometre-Array/PAFs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">phased array feeds</a>" and high-speed digital signal processors specifically for ASKAP. It's these technologies that provide ASKAP's wide field of view and rapid surveying capability.</p><p>Over the next few years, ASKAP is expected to conduct even more sensitive surveys in different wavelength bands.</p><p>In the meantime, the RACS survey catalogue is greatly improving our knowledge of the radio sky. It'll continue to be a key resource for researchers around the world.</p><p>Full resolution images can be downloaded from the <a href="https://data.csiro.au/collections/collection/CIcsiro:46532/DOdomain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ASKAP data archive</a>.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148442/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation"></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aidan-hotan-1166054" target="_blank">Aidan Hotan</a>, ASKAP lead scientist, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/csiro-1035" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CSIRO</a></em></p><p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-mapped-a-million-previously-undiscovered-galaxies-beyond-the-milky-way-take-the-virtual-tour-here-148442" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">original article</a>.</p>
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New data reveals Earth closer to a black hole and is moving 16,000 mph faster
A new study shows our planet is much closer to the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center than previously estimated.
01 December, 2020
Position and velocity map of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Credit: NAOJ
Surprising Science
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<p>If you think Earthly matters haven't been going well already, it also turns out that our planet is much closer to the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy than we imagined. New observation data allowed researchers to improve the modeling of the Milky Way Galaxy, showing Earth is moving <strong>7 km/s (~16,000 mph) faster</strong> and is <strong>2,000 light years closer</strong> to the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*.</p><p><span style="background-color: initial;">The more precise information came from </span><span style="background-color: initial;">15 years worth of data collected by the Japanese radio astronomy project <a href="http://www.miz.nao.ac.jp/en/content/project/vera-project" target="_blank">VERA</a>, which is a collection of acronyms standing for VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (with "VLBI" meaning Very Long Baseline Interferometry). The project started in 2000 and has the goal of mapping the Milky Way's three-dimensional velocity and spatial structures.</span></p>
<p>VERA employs <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/technology/interferometry/" target="_blank">interferometry</a> to pull together and combine data from radio telescopes all over the Japanese archipelago. This technique allows the project to get astounding resolution, as good as a telescope with a 2300 km diameter. The measurement is so accurate at this precise resolution of 10 micro-arcseconds, that it would be sufficiently sharp to pick out a U.S. penny if it was somehow left on the Moon's surface.</p><p><span></span>The VERA Astrometry Catalog and observations made recently by other researchers allowed the astronomers to put together a position and velocity map with a new center for the Galaxy. It's a point around which everything in the Galaxy revolves.<br></p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0OTQwMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDE1MDcxNn0.LYVf609wjGLX0OHUf_fQDO95Pm0d9ggXXz0xvDhh6LM/img.jpg?width=980" id="b4cf4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9d6fdf9c932c94ad65d18d10d1d55df4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Credit: NAOJ
<p><em>Arrows on this map show position and velocity data for the 224 objects utilized to model the Milky Way Galaxy. The solid black lines point to the positions of the spiral arms of the Galaxy. Colors reflect groups of objects that are part of the same arm, while the background is a simulation image.</em></p><p>The new map claims this center, along with the supermassive black hole it contains, is about <strong>25,800</strong> light-years away from Earth. Notably, this is closer than the distance of <strong>27,700</strong> light years established as the official value in 1985 by the International Astronomical Union.</p><p><span></span>The new map's velocity component also differentiated the velocity of the planet, showing that it's traveling at 227 km/s in its orbit around the Galactic Center. That's 7 km/s faster than the previously "official" speed of 220 km/s.<br></p><p>VERA next turns its attention to other objects, especially those close to the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. </p>
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