Foreign interference under the spotlight at Australian universities

Nature NEWS, 30 AUGUST 2019, by Dyani Lewis

The government has acted following concerns about China's influence on campuses.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02588-3

Facial recognition technology is allegedly used to track minority groups in China.Credit: Thomas Peter/Reuters

The Australian government says it will establish an expert committee to detect and respond to cyberattacks, intellectual-property theft and other strikes against universities by foreign governments or groups. The move comes amid growing concerns from some politicians and academics about foreign influence at Australian campuses.

The committee will also focus on the transparency of foreign collaborations and “prevent the transfer of defence and dual-use technology to those who may use it contrary to Australia’s interests”, said the minister for education, Dan Tehan, in a speech announcing the committee on 28 August.

Although Tehan did not name any countries, his announcement follows several recent incidents that have raised concerns about China's influence on campuses. They include a massive breach of the computer systems at Canberra-based Australian National University in June. Security experts have suggested that hackers in China are the main suspect, according to media reports.

At a government budget hearing in 2017, the head of Australia’s intelligence agency, Duncan Lewis, also revealed that the agency was concerned about foreign interference in universities. He did not give details about what activities had been detected.

Others, including the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney Michael Spence, have warned against anti-China “hysteria”. During a radio interview this week, Spence said there are many benefits from the country's large number of Chinese students and its strong research collaborations with Chinese universities.

Australia is not the only country where such concerns have been raised. There has been growing scrutiny of foreign-born academics, particularly those of Chinese origin, at universities in the United States.

The Australian committee, called The University Foreign Interference Taskforce, will include representatives from universities, national security organizations and the education department. It will develop guidelines for how universities should deal with foreign interference, due to be finalized in November.

“The scope of the task force shows that the problem is widespread and deep,” says Clive Hamilton, a Canberra-based public-policy researcher at Charles Sturt University, who has investigated Chinese influence on Australian research organizations.

“Universities have been in denial,” he says. “Scientists themselves need to be compelled to consider the national-security implications of what they are doing and how they're going about it.”

But Catriona Jackson, the chief executive of industry group Universities Australia in Canberra, said institutions had sought advice from the government and security agencies on foreign interference for decades.

AI research

A report released this week by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a policy think-tank in Canberra, says the company Koala AI Technology in Chengdu, may have benefited from research that its founder, Chinese-national Heng Tao Shen, did while he was a professor at the University of Queensland. Surveillance and facial-recognition technologies developed by the company are allegedly used to track members of the Uighur people in northwest China, according to the report.

A spokesperson for the university, where Shen is still an honorary professor, says it was looking into the matter.

Heng Tao Shen has been asked to comment on suggestions his company's technology is being using to track members of the Uyghur people — and on the accusations that research he did while at the University of Queensland contributed to this technology. Nature is awaiting his response.

Following an May report by Human Rights Watch, a non-government organization and media reports, two other Australian universities — the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Curtin University in Perth — launched investigations into possible links between some of their researchers and programmes or companies funded by the Chinese government. The organizations in question have also developed surveillance and facial-recognition technologies allegedly used by the Chinese government to track members of the Uyghur people.

A spokesperson from UTS told Nature that, based on its review so far, there is no link between institution's research and the technology referred to in the Human Rights Watch report. A Curtin University spokesperson said that although one of their researchers provided technical advice to Chinese research teams, they had not received any money. The university also said it is reviewing its processes around research collaborations.

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Airbus pulls out of fighter-jet competition following complaints

Visitor watch a jet engin propulsion of an Airbus 350-1000 at Paris Air Show, in Le Bourget, east of Paris, France, Monday, June 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press, Published Friday, August 30, 2019
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/airbus-pulls-out-of-fighter-jet-competition-following-complaints-1.4572049

OTTAWA -- Canada's multibillion-dollar effort to buy new fighter jets has taken another surprise turn with European aerospace giant Airbus announcing it has withdrawn from the high-stakes competition.

Airbus Defence and Space, in partnership with the British government, was one of four companies expected to bid on the $19-billion contract to build 88 new fighter jets. They're to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force's aging CF-18s.

But in a statement Friday, Airbus said it had notified the Canadian government of its decision to withdraw its Eurofighter Typhoon for two reasons -- both of which it had raised before the competition was formally launched in July.

Meeting the requirement continues to place "too significant of a cost" on non-U.S. aircraft, said Airbus, which would have been required to show how it planned to integrate the Typhoon into the Two-Eyes system without knowing the system's full technical details.The first relates to a requirement that bidders show how they plan to ensure their planes can integrate with the top-secret Canada-U.S. intelligence network known as "Two Eyes," which is used to co-ordinate the defence of North America.

The second factor was the government's decision to change a long-standing policy that requires bidders on military contracts to legally commit to invest as much money in Canadian products and operations as they get out of contracts they win.

With the new process, bidders can instead establish "industrial targets," lay out a plan for achieving those targets and sign non-binding agreements promising to make all efforts to achieve them. Such bids do suffer penalties when the bids are scored but are no longer rejected outright.

That change followed U.S. complaints the previous policy violated an agreement Canada signed in 2006 to become one of nine partner countries in developing the F-35. The agreement says companies in partner countries will compete for work.

In its statement, Airbus said the new approach "does not sufficiently value the binding commitments the Typhoon Canada package was willing to make, and which were one of its major points of focus."

Airbus is the second company to pull its fighter jet from the competition after Dassault withdrew its Rafale last November. That leaves Lockheed Martin's F-35, Boeing's Super Hornet and Sweden's Saab Gripen in the running.

Boeing and Saab have both previously raised their own concerns about the changed industrial-requirement policy, arguing it will shortchange taxpayers and Canada's aerospace and defence industry.

Despite its decision to withdraw, Airbus expressed appreciation to the public servants organizing the competition for their "commitment to transparency throughout the last two years as well as the thoroughly professional nature of the competition."

Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough came out in defence of the government's approach to the fighter-jet competition following news of Airbus's withdrawal, which included "adapting the economic-benefits approach to ensure the highest level of participation among suppliers."

"Strong economic outcomes are a priority for this project," Qualtrough said in a statement, "and we are confident that this investment will support the growth of Canada's highly skilled workforce in the aerospace and defence industries for decades to come and create significant economic and industrial benefits right across the country."

Companies are expected to submit their bids next winter, with a formal contract signed in 2022. The first plane won't arrive until at least 2025. Successive federal government have been working to replace Canada's CF-18s for more than a decade.

While meeting the Two-Eyes security requirements was always going to be a challenge for the non-U.S. companies, defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute said government officials had hoped Airbus would figure it out.

That is because the United Kingdom had already managed to integrate the Eurofighter Typhoon into Canada's other major intelligence-sharing alliance, the Five-Eyes partnership whose members include the U.K., the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

(The institute where Perry works, which is registered as a charity, receives funding from multiple sources. Those include the Department of National Defence, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.)

As for the changed industrial policy, Perry said there are legitimate complaints about how the government rolled it out only in recent months despite knowing for years that some accommodation would be needed to allow the F-35 to compete.

"The way that it happened was not something that sat very well with the other people who started out on the process on the understanding that the full (industrial-requirements) policy was going to be applied in this procurement," he said. "That change happened quite late in the process."

Conservative defence critic James Bezan, however, pointed to Airbus's withdrawal as proof the Liberal government has mismanaged the fighter-jet file during its time in government, which included waiting four years to launch a promised competition.

"While other countries have selected fighter jets in under two years, (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau's record on military procurement is one of delays and failures," said Bezan.

The previous Conservative government announced a plan to buy F-35s without a competition in 2010, but backed off that plan two years later following questions and concerns about the stealth fighter's costs and capabilities.

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Defense - New system allows soldiers to eliminate drones with one shot

New system allows soldiers to eliminate drones with one shot

New military system could allow soldiers to eliminate drones with one shot. 

The system has also been deployed with other forces in various countries around the world, with the main customer being US special forces. 

By Anna Ahronheim, August 30th 2019, the Jerusalem Post 

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/New-system-allows-soldiers-to-eliminate-drones-with-one-shot-600118

AN OPERATOR demonstrates how SMASH works against a balloon like those sent from Gaza into Israel. . (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

What started as a child’s toy has turned into a strategic weapon in the hands of militaries and non-state hostile actors across the skies of the messy Middle East.

From the crowded cities of Beirut and Gaza to the sandy deserts of Yemen and Iraq, weaponized drones have brought a whole new assortment of security threats to the forefront and have raised the stakes in the tensions between Israel and its enemies.

“The threat of drones is a multilayer threat,” Dr. Abraham Mazor, VP BD & Marketing of Smart Shooter, told The Jerusalem Post. “There is not only one kind of done that we have to defeat; there are many kinds, in terms of height, weight, velocity; and therefore there is no one solution for the threat posed by them.”

While drones and other incendiary aerial devices are cheap and usually toys that can be bought on the civilian market, they are fast and remain a challenge even for skilled sharpshooters. The appeal of such unmanned aircraft, which can also be small enough to evade air-defense systems, has pushed many companies to scramble to come up with breakthrough technology to take them out.

But a new system developed by Smart Shooter, the SMASH 2000, to take out drones might be the answer militaries are looking for.

SMASH INSTALLED atop an M-16. (MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

“Since drones have become a very serious threat all over the world, we began to think of how we could use the system against drones,” Mazor said, explaining that SMASH 2000 can hit moving targets on the ground and in the sky.

“If you are capable of hitting moving targets, we don’t care if the target is on the ground, such as terrorists in the terminal, terrorists on the battlefield, or a drone in the sky,” he said.

We have to adapt the algorithm and a few other things, but basically we are facing the same challenge – how to hit moving targets,” he said.

Even with no experience with rifles or the system, the author, during a visit to a range in northern Israel with company representatives, was able to take down moving targets at over 200 meters away, including several balloons, with the help of SMASH 2000 attached to the M4 rifle used. The author became a smart shooter.

“The need for such a system comes from the place where soldiers in combat need to operate in very tense scenarios and do things very fast and accurately under a tremendous amount of physical and mental pressure,” another representative from the company told the Post while demonstrating the system at the range.

“Exactly the same way it locks on a target on the ground, it locks on a target in the air,” he said.

With the system, the user selects and locks onto the target, and as soon as the trigger is squeezed, the system calculates the target’s movement and predicts its next location by means of advanced image processing and algorithms. SMASH 2000 prevents the bullet being fired until the target is precisely in its crosshairs.

LONG BEFORE the IDF came face-to-face with the burning balloons and kites from Gaza, the IDF and the Defense Ministry were looking for such a system, and, according to Globes, installed it on rifles used by troops in the Golani, Paratrooper and Givati brigades. After a successful pilot program, thousands of Smart Shooter sites were ordered.

“What we are dealing with is the shooter – it could be a border guard, infantry, special forces – whoever carries the rifle and needs to use the rifle, he will be precise. We don’t mean just infantry, we mean everyone. The system allows anyone to be a smart shooter just after a bit of basic training,” Mazor said.

And in Israel it’s even more crucial, he continued, explaining that in times of war thousands of reservists can be called up without any recent training.

The combination of simple hardware and advanced image-processing software can effectively turn every soldier with basic weapons into sharpshooters, with the first round out of every rifle hitting its target.

“Smart Shooter’s fire control solutions are designed to give soldiers and law enforcement officers a decisive tactical edge in almost every operational scenario, maximizing force lethality and effectiveness throughout an engagement,” the company said, adding that “repurposed and occasionally armed civilian drones have become common, turning the concept of unmanned warfare back on national forces.”

The SMASH 2000 gives troops a precision anti-drone system on their weapon with built-in targeting algorithms that can track and hit drones flying at high speeds at ranges of up to 120 meters with the first shot.

The system effectively downs a hostile target in a cheap manner, saving militaries millions of dollars that might have been spent deploying a helicopter or launching a $3 million Patriot missile toward such platforms.

Hezbollah and Hamas have sent drones into Israel and are said to have been working on upgrading the group’s UAVs for use in both offensive operations and intelligence gathering. Larger, more advanced drones sent by Hezbollah and Iran have also infiltrated Israel from the northern border, most recently in February of last year, when Iran launched a drone on a sabotage mission. It was eliminated by an Apache attack helicopter near Beit She’an.

ON SATURDAY the Israel Air Force took out an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force cell led by two Hezbollah operatives planning an explosive drone attack against Israel. The cell, which was under the direct order of IRGC commander Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani, was said to be planning to use drones similar to the kind used by the Houthis in Yemen against Saudi Arabia.

Several hours later two explosive-laden DJI drones appeared in the skies of the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh. One exploded, hitting an industrial-sized planetary mixer, which is a central component to create propellants that can improve engine performance and accuracy of missiles. The explosion also destroyed the machine’s control panel. Hezbollah and Lebanon have accused Israel of being behind the attack.

And while the drone tit for tat over the weekend has raised the risk of unwanted escalation between Israel and Iran, Israel’s military has been contending with ongoing violence with the Gaza Strip.

In the last round of violence between Israel and terrorist groups in the blockaded coastal enclave, the IDF said that there were multiple attempts to attack troops stationed along the border using drones.

In one attempt, Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed that a drone belonging to its military wing dropped a bomb in the vicinity of an IDF tank. In a video a drone drops a bomb above a tank, after it spots IDF troops approaching it. The bomb explodes near the tank, deployed close to the border, but does not cause any injuries to the nearby troops.
But more simple devices, such as kites, balloons and condoms carrying Molotov cocktails or bombs, have posed a major problem for Israel since the beginning of the “Great March of Return” protests along the Gaza border fence.

The devices have caused over 2,000 separate fires, resulting in over 3,500 hectares (approximately 8,500 acres) being burned. According to the IDF, this has included over 1,300 hectares (approximately 3,200 acres) of nature reserves, and over 1,100 hectares (approximately 2,700 acres) of forestry.

For several months the IDF had been using high-speed drones to take out hostile drones from the Hamas-run coastal enclave. But they couldn’t get them all. According to Mazor, the SMASH 2000 system has now been in use by the IDF for several months along the border, taking out drones and incendiary balloons launched from Gaza.

“There is a lot of interest around this product because of the drone threat and the balloons from Gaza,” he said.

The system has also been deployed with other forces in various countries around the world, with the main customer being US special forces.

“We are there; we have been trying the system, they have been trying the system, and they are very happy with it, and the results are very successful so far,” Mazor said, adding that the company is preparing to work with Europeans and other countries.

“It is my vision that the entire world – especially in developed countries, where there is a lot of sensitivity to collateral damage – that all militaries should switch to this system,” he added.

Earlier this month the US Air Force showcased the system at Beale Air Force Base in California.

According to a statement by the USAF on its website, Chief Master Sgt. Dustin Hall, 9th Reconnaissance Wing command chief, and Col. Andrew Clark, 9th Reconnaissance Wing commander, tested the SMASH 2000 fire control system developed by Smart Shooter.

“The 9th Security Forces Squadron airmen have been using off the shelf commercial technology to help train and improve how their missions are conducted to protect the installation,” the USAF said.

And while SMASH allows troops to remove the threat of drones and other aerial targets, “what will happen in the next two years, nobody knows,” Mazor said.
“There is no one solution for the threat posed by drones,” Mazor said. But, “among all the means that exist, we can eliminate drones in one shot. Any and every soldier with the SMASH 2000 can defeat the threat.... It’s as simple as that.”

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Deaths of prominent life scientists tend to be followed by a surge in highly cited research by newcomers

AUGUST 29, 2019, by Peter Dizikes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-deaths-prominent-life-scientists-tend.html

A study co-authored by MIT professor Pierre Azoulay has shown that in many areas of the life sciences, the deaths of prominent researchers are often followed by a surge in highly cited research by newcomers to those fields. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The famed quantum physicist Max Planck had an idiosyncratic view about what spurred scientific progress: death. That is, Planck thought, new concepts generally take hold after older scientists with entrenched ideas vanish from the discipline.

"A great scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it," Planck once wrote.

Now a new study co-authored by MIT economist Pierre Azoulay, an expert on the dynamics of scientific research, concludes that Planck was right.

 In many areas of the life sciences, at least, the deaths of prominent researchers are often followed by a surge in highly cited research by newcomers to those fields.

Indeed, when star scientists die, their subfields see a subsequent 8.6 percent increase, on average, of articles by researchers who have not previously collaborated with those star scientists.

 Moreover, those papers published by the newcomers to these fields are much more likely to be influential and highly cited than other pieces of research.

"The conclusion of this paper is not that stars are bad," says Azoulay, who has co-authored a new paper detailing the study's findings.

 "It's just that, once safely ensconced at the top of their fields, maybe they tend to overstay their welcome."

The paper, "Does Science Advance one Funeral at a Time?" is co-authored by Azoulay, the International Programs Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management; Christian Fons-Rosen, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California at Merced; and Joshua Graff Zivin, a professor of economics at the University of California at San Diego and faculty member in the university's School of Global Policy and Strategy.

 It is forthcoming in the American Economic Review.

To conduct the study, the researchers used a database of life scientists that Azoulay and Graff Zivin have been building for well over a decade.

 In it, the researchers chart the careers of life scientists, looking at accomplishments that include funding awards, published papers and the citations of those papers, and patent statistics.

In this case, Azoulay, Graff Zivin, and Fons-Rosen studied what occurred after the unexpected deaths of 452 life scientists, who were still active in their disciplines.

 In addition to the 8.6 percent increase in papers by new entrants to those subfields, there was a 20.7 percent decrease in papers by the rather smaller number of scientists who had previously co-authored papers with the star scientists.

Overall, Azoulay notes, the study provides a window into the power structures of scientific disciplines.

 Even if well-established scientists are not intentionally blocking the work of researchers with alternate ideas, a group of tightly connected colleagues may wield considerable influence over journals and grant awards.

 In those cases, "it's going to be harder for those outsiders to make a mark on the domain," Azoulay notes.

"The fact that if you're successful, you get to set the intellectual agenda of your field, that is part of the incentive system of science, and people do extraordinary positive things in the hope of getting to that position," Azoulay notes.

 "It's just that, once they get there, over time, maybe they tend to discount 'foreign' ideas too quickly and for too long."

Thus what the researchers call "Planck's Principle" serves as an unexpected—and tragic—mechanism for diversifying bioscience research.

The researchers note that in referencing Planck, they are extending his ideas to a slightly different setting than the one he himself was describing. In his writing, Planck was discussing the birth of quantum physics—the kind of epochal, paradigm-setting shift that rarely occurs in science.

 The current study, Azoulay notes, examines what happens in everyday "normal science," in the phrase of philosopher Thomas Kuhn.

The process of bringing new ideas into science, and then hanging on to them, is only to be expected in many areas of research, according to Azoulay.

 Today's seemingly stodgy research veterans were once themselves innovators facing an old guard.

"They had to hoist themselves atop the field in the first place, when presumably they were [fighting] the same thing," Azoulay says. "It's the circle of life."

Or, in this case, the circle of life science.

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Science- Vegan and plant diets 'rob brain of crucial nutrient'

Vegan and plant diets 'rob brain of crucial nutrient'

Dietary choline is a vital nutrient that humans mainly get from beef, eggs, dairy, fish and chicken.

Sky News, Friday 30 August 2019, https://news.sky.com/story/vegan-and-plant-diets-rob-brain-of-crucial-nutrient-11797490

More and more people are switching to vegan and vegetarian diets

Vegan and plant-based diets risk lowering the intake of a nutrient crucial for the health of the brain, it has been claimed.

Dietary choline is particularly important during fetal development and also influences liver function, but humans mainly take it in from beef, eggs, dairy, fish and chicken.

Smaller amounts can be found in nuts, beans and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, but the liver alone does not generate enough to meet the requirements of the human body.

Nutritionist Dr Emma Derbyshire, of Nutritional Insight, a consultancy specialising in nutrition and biomedical science, said the government had failed to recommend or monitor levels of the nutrient.

She made her claims in a British Medical Journal article.

"Given the important physiological roles of choline and authorisation of certain health claims, it is questionable why choline has been overlooked for so long in the UK," she said.

"Choline is presently excluded from UK food composition databases, major dietary surveys, and dietary guidelines."

Dr Derbyshire stressed that the importance of choline must not be "overlooked" by healthcare professionals and consumers alike, especially during pregnancy as it is vital for infant development.

She said "accelerated food trends" that have seen people move away from diets rich in animal products could further exacerbate the issue.

The Greggs vegan sausage roll. Pic: Sean Cocktail

Vegan diets have become increasingly popular in the UK in recent years, prompting some of the most recognisable food brands in the country to adapt their menus.

Bakery chain Greggs is planning to release meat-free versions of all of its best-selling products following a successful launch for its vegan sausage roll.

According to The Vegan Society, the UK launched more vegan products that any other nation last year.

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There Is No ‘Gay Gene,’ Comprehensive Scientific Study Finds

There Is No ‘Gay Gene,’ Comprehensive Scientific Study Finds

 

BY MATT MARGOLIS AUGUST 29, 2019

CHAT 103 COMMENTS

A spectator waves a Born This Way flag at the annual Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade, Sunday, April 9, 2017, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Recent polls have shown that most Americans believe that homosexuals are “born that way”rather than become gay as the result of environmental factors. In fact, perpetuating the belief that sexual orientation is innate has been crucial to the gay rights movement. According to the most recent Gallup Poll on the subject, 88 percent of people who believe homosexuals are “born that way” support the legality of same-sex marriage, while only 39 percent of those who believe homosexuality is the result of environmental factors support the legality of same-sex marriage.

So, what happens when science proves that homosexuals aren’t “born that way”? Perhaps we’ll find out. A new comprehensive scientific study of the biological roots of sexual orientationreleased Thursday proved that there no “gay gene” and that genetic factors are insignificant in determining sexual orientation.

The research, which analyzed data on DNA and sexual experiences from almost half a million people, found there are thousands of genetic variants linked to same-sex sexual behavior, most with very small effects.

Five of the genetic markers were "significantly" associated with same-sex behavior, the researchers said, but even these are far from being predictive of a person's sexual preferences.

"We scanned the entire human genome and found a handful - five to be precise - of locations that are clearly associated with whether a person reports in engaging in same-sex sexual behavior," said Andrea Ganna, a biologist at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Finland who co-led the research.

According to Ganna, these genetic variances have “a very small effect” on sexual behavior, and  combined, only explain “considerably less than 1% of the variance in the self-reported same-sex sexual behavior.” This means that non-genetic factors, including environment, upbringing, personality, and nurture “are far more significant in influencing a person's choice of sexual partner, just as with most other personality, behavioral and physical human traits,” according to the researchers.

There have been many other studies conducted in the past that have attempted to resolve the nature vs. nurture debate, but due to their small sample sizes were considered inadequate. “Previous studies were small and underpowered," according to Ganna. "So we decided to form a large international consortium and collected data for (almost) 500,000 people, (which) is approximately 100 times bigger than previous studies on this topic.” This new study “analyzed survey responses and performed analyses known as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on data from more than 470,000 people who had given DNA samples and lifestyle information to the UK Biobank and to the U.S. genetics testing company 23andMeInc.”

Will the release of this comprehensive study finally put this issue to rest? Doubtful. Past studies have done little to shift public opinion on this. But, the size and comprehensive nature of this new study ought to crush the “born that way” myth. What is the LGBT lobby to do? It appears they are trying to spin this study as reaffirming to their beliefs. “This new research also re-confirms the long-established understanding that there is no conclusive degree to which nature or nurture influence how a gay or lesbian person behaves," said Zeke Stokes, the chief programs officer of the gay rights group GLAAD. Clearly, there will be a lot of denial from groups like GLAAD and the left that this new study completely undermined the foundation of the gay rights movement.

Johns Hopkins Research: No Evidence People Are Born Gay or Transgender

_____

Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama's Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis

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Gaia tracing starry strings in the Milky Way

28 August 2019, by the European Space Agency

Rather than leaving home young, as expected, stellar ‘siblings’ prefer to stick together in long-lasting, string-like groups, finds a new study of data from ESA’s Gaia spacecraft.

Exploring the distribution and past history of the starry residents of our galaxy is especially challenging as it requires astronomers to determine the ages of stars. This is not at all trivial, as ‘average’ stars of a similar mass but different ages look very much alike.

To figure out when a star formed, astronomers must instead look at populations of stars thought to have formed at the same time – but knowing which stars are siblings poses a further challenge, since stars do not necessarily hang out long in the stellar cradles where they formed.

Stellar groups and strings in the Milky Way – face-on view

“To identify which stars formed together, we look for stars moving similarly, as all of the stars that formed within the same cloud or cluster would move in a similar way,” says Marina Kounkel of Western Washington University, USA, and lead author of the new study.

“We knew of a few such ‘co-moving’ star groups near the Solar System, but Gaia enabled us to explore the Milky Way in great detail out to far greater distances, revealing many more of these groups.”

Marina used data from Gaia’s second release to trace the structure and star formation activity of a large patch of space surrounding the Solar System, and to explore how this changed over time. This data release, provided in April 2018, lists the motions and positions of over one billion stars with unprecedented precision.

The analysis of the Gaia data, relying on a machine learning algorithm, uncovered nearly 2000 previously unidentified clusters and co-moving groups of stars up to about 3000 light years from us – roughly 750 times the distance to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun. The study also determined the ages for hundreds of thousands of stars, making it possible to track stellar ‘families’ and uncover their surprising arrangements.

Stellar families in Gaia’s sky

“Around half of these stars are found in long, string-like configurations that mirror features present within their giant birth clouds,” adds Marina.

“We generally thought young stars would leave their birth sites just a few million years after they form, completely losing ties with their original family – but it seems that stars can stay close to their siblings for as long as a few billion years.”

The strings also appear to be oriented in particular ways with respect to our galaxy’s spiral arms – something that depends upon the ages of the stars within a string. This is especially evident for the youngest strings, comprising stars younger than 100 million years, which tend to be oriented at right angles to the spiral arm nearest to our Solar System.

Stellar groups and strings in the Milky Way – edge-on view

The astronomers suspect that the older strings of stars must have been perpendicular to the spiral arms that existed when these stars formed, which have now been reshuffled over the past billion years.

“The proximity and orientation of the youngest strings to the Milky Way’s present-day spiral arms shows that older strings are an important ‘fossil record’ of our galaxy’s spiral structure,” says co-author Kevin Covey, also of Western Washington University, USA.

“The nature of spiral arms is still debated, with the verdict on them being stable or dynamic structures not settled yet. Studying these older strings will help us understand if the arms are mostly static, or if they move or dissipate and re-form over the course of a few hundred million years – roughly the time it takes for the Sun to orbit around the galactic centre a couple of times.”

Gaia was launched in 2013, and is on a mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our galaxy, pinpointing the locations, motions, and dynamics of roughly one percent of the stars within the Milky Way, along with additional information about many of these stars. Further Gaia releases, including more and increasingly precise data, are planned for the coming decade, providing astronomers with the information they need to unfold the star-formation history of our galaxy.

“Gaia is a truly ground-breaking mission that is revealing the history of the Milky Way – and its constituent stars – like never before,” adds Timo Prusti, Gaia project scientist at ESA.

“As we will determine the ages for a larger number of stars distributed throughout our galaxy, not just those residing in compact clusters, we’ll be in an even better position to analyse how these stars have evolved over time.”

Notes for editors:
“Untangling the Galaxy I: Local Structure and Star Formation History of the Milky Way” by M. Kounkel and K. Covey is published in the Astronomical Journal.

The study uses data from Gaia’s second release (DR2), provided in April 2018.

For more information please contact:
Marina Kounkel
Western Washington University, USA

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