​Chances of finding extraterrestrial life just increased 1,000 times ● Britain’s historic decision to return the Parthenon bas-reliefs? ● The Yellowstone supervolcano poses no immediate danger

The chances of finding alien life have increased 1000 times

MeerKAT, the largest radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, has just joined the Breakthrough Listen project, a project that examines all information from radio telescopes around the world to identify radio signals from possible extraterrestrial life. And this means that the coefficient of multiplication of the chances of success has increased by a thousand times, according to experts.

MeerKAT consists of 64 individual antennas, which means it can scan 64 targets simultaneously. At the same time, MeerKAT can “see” an area 50 times larger than any other radio telescope, with a huge number of exoplanets that it can keep under observation. In fact, it is estimated that more than 1 million stars and the planets orbiting them will be studied in the next two years.

The first target of the MeerKat radio telescope will be the star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system, in the habitable zone of which two solid planets orbit. Only aliens emit radio signals that we are ready to detect them.

Britain’s historic decision to return the Parthenon bas-reliefs?

Britain is close to a deal with Greece to return dozens of bas-reliefs and statues that once adorned the Parthenon. The decision would be historic, considering that all the efforts of Greece in the last almost 50 years have not yielded results.

The 2,500-year-old bas-reliefs and statues were stolen in the early 19th century by Thomas Bruce, Duke of Elgin, and later sold to the British Museum. The British received permission from the Sultan to explore the Parthenon, but there is no evidence that he had permission to export all of these works of art. They arrived in London in 1807 and the deal with the British Museum was completed in 1816.

The Greek publication Ta Nea, quoted by the BBC, claims that the negotiations are at an advanced stage. According to the same publication, the objects that will be returned to Greece will be added to other Greek works of art that the Athens authorities will offer in exchange to the British side. Another option being discussed would be dual storage, which would allow the two countries to take turns sharing and displaying exhibits.

The Yellowstone supervolcano poses no immediate danger

In recent years, there has been talk of the possibility of the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano in the national park of the same name, which would lead to a catastrophe with global consequences. However, a recent study by volcanologists from the University of California, published in the journal Science, does not bring good and bad news.

The bad news is that the studies so far have been wrong, and the amount of magma under the Yellowstone Caldera is actually twice what was thought. This result was obtained after the implementation of high-performance programs, in which all seismic data from recent years were entered. From this data, it was calculated that there are not one but two magma reservoirs, one above the other, and the amount of magma is approximately 1,600 cubic kilometers, double what the old reports indicated.

In addition, the ratio of crystals to molten magma in the upper reservoir, which indicates whether an eruption is imminent, is 16-20%, not the 9% as believed.

The good news, experts say, is that the risk of a supervolcanic eruption, despite the significant doubling, remains extremely low. In particular, if it will happen, it will happen somewhere after 5000 years, at least.

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