- Статьи
- Science and technology
- Full to flight: a new supersonic airplane and signs of life on an asteroid
Full to flight: a new supersonic airplane and signs of life on an asteroid
Russian aircraft design scientists are creating a new supersonic passenger airliner and studying the effect of "cold" plasma to improve the flight characteristics of airplanes. At the same time, NASA experts found signs of life in samples from the asteroid Bennu, and Russian biologists discovered a new species of algae in Lake Baikal. About this, as well as about how doctors have created a program for quick adjustment of children's hearing implants and how they found the electric car of Ilon Musk in space - in a selection of the most interesting science news, prepared by "Izvestia"
Russia creates supersonic airplane technology demonstrator
In Russia are creating a flying machine, which will help to work out the flight modes of the future supersonic passenger airliner. This was reported in an exclusive interview to "Izvestia" by Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician, scientific director of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Professor N.E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI) Sergei Chernyshev.
- Now a supersonic airplane - a technology demonstrator - is being created for full-scale experiments. It will make it possible to test flight modes (takeoff, landing, overcoming the sound barrier) and to work out the most important technologies, such as reduction of sound impact and noise, to test the elastic properties of the airframe structure and its strength, to evaluate other characteristics of the future airplane, - explained the scientist.
Sergey Chernyshev, Scientific Director of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Prof. N.E. Zhukovsky
The academician also spoke about other Russian developments in aviation. Including the layout of passenger airliners of the "flying wing" type, the use of "cold" plasma to reduce air resistance and other Russian developments in aviation.
- Let me give an example of the technology of using "cold" plasma. These are, conditionally speaking, jets of ionized gas, which are formed due to the impact of high-frequency electric discharges of low power and are directed into the zone of the near-wall thin boundary layer to give the flow a laminar character. This leads to a decrease in the friction of the air flow on the streamlined surface, which reduces the resistance by a quarter, - said Sergei Chernyshev.
This effect has been confirmed experimentally. The use of "cold" plasma can give rise to a new technological direction - plasma aerodynamics, says the scientist.
AI will customize hearing implants for children in 10-15 minutes
Russia has developed a hardware-software complex with a neural network that can customize hearing implants for children in 10-15 minutes. Usually it takes three to five days, but with the new technology the child starts to hear well almost immediately.
As the specialists explained, the parameters of the electronic device are individual. It is necessary to determine the optimal parameters of electrostimulation for the system as a whole and for each electrode separately (more than 50 parameters). Usually for this purpose doctors' consultations and classes of sign language teachers are used. The Research Institute of ENT has developed a program that allows to perform these processes with the help of a pre-trained neural network.
- All the experience accumulated by the institute in this field was used for the development. The technology allows within a few minutes to conduct the necessary objective study of a deaf child's hearing and predict the necessary parameters for the cochlear implant (a device that acts directly on the auditory nerve), - said Vladimir Dvoryanchikov, Director of the St. Petersburg Research Institute of ENT Vladimir Dvoryanchikov.
Scientists discovered a new species of algae-endemics in Baikal
Specialists of the Baikal Museum of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have discovered a new species of endemic plants of Lake Baikal. This is the Olkhon morphotype of Draparnaldioides, which belong to the genus of large green algae.
- There are many endemic species of algae in Lake Baikal. Most of them cannot be seen with the naked eye. However, the genus Draparnaldioides stands out among the others: these algae are large enough to resemble real plants. They are colorful and eye-catching. They are recognized as the largest freshwater algae in the family," Elena Mincheva, deputy director for scientific work of the Baikal Museum, told Izvestia.
She added that draparnaldioides algae serve as an indicator of water purity. At the same time, modern studies show that in the south of Baikal these plants have been displaced by the simple filamentous algae Spirogyra, which may indicate organic pollution of the water body.
DNA components found on the asteroid Bennu.
Scientists have studied samples of soil, which last year on Earth delivered from the asteroid Bennu spacecraft OSIRIS-REx, reported in NASA. It turned out that the samples contain all five nucleotides (structural components), of which on Earth consist of molecules of hereditary information DNA and RNA. In addition, the samples found 14 of the 20 amino acids, of which on our planet are formed all proteins - the building blocks of living organisms.
At the same time, scientists found that Bennu is rich in salts. The researchers hypothesize that they formed in the aqueous environment that was present on the planet or parent asteroid from which Bennu formed. The salty solutions could have been the basis of chemical processes for the emergence of life. Thus, the researchers say, the findings could serve as a contribution to the theory of panspermia - it suggests that life is spread through the universe by asteroids and comets.
A capsule containing a sample collected from the asteroid Bennu
However, there is a nuance. On Earth, "living" substances have so-called chiral purity. This means, among other things, that all proteins, with few exceptions, are made up of amino acids with left-handed chirality. The amino acids found on Bennu, on the other hand, are equally divided into left-handed and right-handed amino acids based on chirality.
Lack of chiral purity is characteristic of non-living matter. This casts doubt on the asteroid hypothesis of life in the universe.
Sports car raced in space past the Earth
Astronomers reported about the passage past the Earth at a distance of about 240 thousand kilometers of an unusual object - an electric car Tesla Roadster. It was launched into space on December 6, 2018 as a payload during the first (test) flight of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.
For six years, the dummy car has been in orbit around the Sun. It has visited the vicinity of Mars and returned to Earth.
First, an unusual object in space was discovered by an amateur astronomer from Turkey. He mistook it for an asteroid. Also on January 2, 2025, the Center for Small Planets of the International Astronomical Union announced the discovery of a new asteroid, assigning it the designation CN41. However, after a day, experts realized that the trajectory of the object exactly corresponds to the orbit of the Tesla Roadster, and canceled their decision.
According to astronomers' calculations, the car has a 22% chance in the next few million years to crash into the Earth, another 12% - to collide with Venus. However, the car is likely to burn up as it passes close to the Sun.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
