The Moon could now be home to thousands of tardigrades – creatures under a millimetre long that are known to survive incredibly harsh conditions – thanks to an Israeli mission that crashed there in April. The creatures, also known as water bears, were flown to the Moon aboard the Beresheet lander, which was built by SpaceIL – a private company based in Israel. However, just minutes before landing, the firm lost contact with the craft and it crashed.
The 10,000 tardigrades had been dehydrated to place them in suspended animation and then encased in artificial amber in the craft’s payload. But Nova Spivack, the co-founder of Arch Mission Foundation that was involved with mission, notes that the creatures could have survived the crash and simply be re-animated by placing them in water. Given that they can survive being frozen to almost absolute zero, you wouldn’t bet against them.
The PEMDAS way
What is the answer to the following: 8÷2(2+2)? What at first might seem rather simple, is actually anything but. This equation was posted last week on Twitter and quickly went viral reaching 15,000 likes and causing countless headaches and arguments. The reason is that people generally reach two different answers: 16 or 1. Indeed, one user even uploaded an image showing two calculators with a different answer.
Steven Strogatz, a mathematician from Cornell University, writes in the New York Times how the solution depends on how you have been taught the rules governing the “order of operations”. Most are taught the PEMDAS way — parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction – in which case arriving at 16. But others are taught that “implicit” multiplication should be given higher priority than “explicit” multiplication or division, in which case the implicit multiplication 2(2+2) is given higher priority than the explicit division in 8÷2(2 + 2), resulting in 1. Many, however, have simply balked at the question itself saying that it is badly formulated. As Strogatz concludes: “If you want a clearer answer, ask a clearer question.”
Atomic tipple
Finally, would you try a vodka that is made with grain and water from the exclusion zone in Chernobyl? Well, now you can thanks to Atomik – an “artisan vodka” – that has been produced by the Chernobyl Spirit Company. Those behind the 40% ABV tipple say it is the first consumer product to come from the abandoned area around the damaged nuclear power plant.
Environmental scientist Jim Smith from the University of Portsmouth reassures would-be consumers that there is no danger of radioactivity from the spirit thanks to the distillation process. “This is no more radioactive than any other vodka,” he told BBC News adding that it has even been tested for radioactivity in a lab at the University of Southampton. “They couldn’t find anything – everything was below their limit of detection,” he says.
The team hope to use the profits to help communities in Ukraine still affected by the economic impact of the accident. So how can you get your hands on this unique beverage? Currently there is only one bottle available, but the team hope to produce 500 bottles by the end of the year selling it initially to the “nuclear tourists” who visit the exclusion zone.
