Page 27 - BBC Knowledge - October 2017 IN

S PA C E

THE FORGETFUL
Do you often find it difficult to remember what
you had for dinner last night? You might be
a genius. Canadian researchers have found
that jettisoning unimportant memories helps us
to focus on the most important information.

COFFEE DRINKERS
Make mine a quadruple espresso! People who
drink two to three cups of coffee a day are
18 per cent less likely to die from heart disease,
cancer, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease,
a team at the University of California has found.

GOOD MONTH

Enhanced
colour image of
Jupiter’s Great BAD MONTH
Red Spot

JUPITER’S GREAT RED SMARTPHONE
ADDICTS
SPOT CAPTURED IN If you break out in a sweat when your
smartphone’s out of reach, it may be time to
UNPRECEDENTED DETAIL rethink your habits. A University of Texas team
has found that having a smart device in sight
reduces our ability to focus and perform tasks.
N ASA’s Juno probe has delivered the goods yet again. This time, with photos TEENAGERS
of Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot that were taken on July 10, 2017.
The stunning images were pieced together by citizen scientists using
raw data taken from the JunoCam as the probe passed just 3,500km above the So much for the vitality of youth! Researchers
at the University of Baltimore have found the
planet’s cloud tops – the closest any human-made object has come to the storm. activity levels of the average 19-year-old are
“I have been following the Juno mission since it launched,” said citizen scientist the same as those of people in their sixties!
Jason Major, who produced one of the images. “It is always exciting to see these
new raw images of Jupiter as they arrive. But it is even more thrilling to take
the raw images and turn them into something that people can appreciate.
That is what I live for.”
Measuring 16,350km across, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a vast, raging storm
1.3 times as wide as Earth. It has been under observation since 1830 and is
believed to have existed for more than 350 years.
Early analysis of data taken by Juno portrays Jupiter as a highly turbulent world,
with a complex interior structure, energetic polar auroras, and huge polar cyclones.
“For hundreds of years, scientists have been observing, wondering and
theorising about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot,” said Juno’s principal investigator Scott
Bolton. “Now we have the best pictures ever of this iconic storm. It will take us some
time to analyse all the data from not only JunoCam, but Juno’s eight science
instruments, to shed some new light on the past, present and future of
the Great Red Spot.” 27
OCTOBER 2017