2026年机经38

So Jupiter's the largest planet in our solar system. One of its most recognizable features is its Great Red Spot, which is actually a huge storm. It appears as a large red oval on the planet's surface and has been observed for centuries. This storm is enormous, larger than the planet Earth, and it's been raging for centuries. But did you know the Great Red Spot is actually shrinking? This topic is interesting not only for astronomers but also for anyone who studies weather system dynamics, even though this exists on a much larger scale than we're used to for weather we experience on Earth. The shrinkage of the Great Red Spot could give us clues about Jupiter's atmosphere and maybe even our own. Jupiter's atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium. It's the trace gases and cloud dynamics that make it fascinating. As the Great Red Spot shrinks, we study changes in wind patterns and atmospheric conditions, hoping for insights into the underlying processes. It could help us understand atmospheric evolution not only on Jupiter but potentially on Earth or other planets. Why is it shrinking? The exact reasons remain a mystery. Some theories suggest interactions with other atmospheric features, like smaller storms or jet streams, might be contributing factors. As we continue to observe and gather data, the Great Red Spot's changes could unlock secrets about weather patterns, atmospheric stability, planetary evolution, So let's get to that, the data.

Back in the mid-1800s, scientists dredging the ocean floor stumbled on previously unknown life forms. Brittle stars, sea cucumbers, even deep-sea corals. Creatures living in pitch darkness, near freezing water, and under crushing pressure. That discovery flipped the old belief that such conditions couldn't support life. But what do these organisms eat? Near the ocean's surface, food chains begin with phytoplankton, tiny plants that use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide into energy. These phytoplankton feed zooplankton, which feed small fish, and these in turn feed larger predators. But in the deep ocean, there's no sunlight. So what keeps life going down there? The answer is something scientists call marine snow. This isn't frozen water, but a slow, steady snowfall of organic particles—dead plankton, bits of decaying creatures, and animal waste products—all sinking from above. But marine snow does more than feed deep-sea life. It carries carbon from surface waters down to the deep sea floor, where some of it can stay locked away for centuries, even millennia. This process helps regulate Earth's climate by pulling carbon from surface waters, and so out of the atmosphere, which interacts with the surface waters. As you probably know, carbon in the atmosphere, in the form of carbon dioxide gas, has a warming effect on Earth's climate, and the extra carbon released there from human activities has caused dangerous global warming. How much carbon does marine snow remove? Roughly 10 billion tons annually, about the same as all human carbon emissions combined.

We've been talking about symbiosis, which, to remind you, is a, a beneficial interaction between two different species. A good example is birds and seed-producing plants. The birds eat the seeds the plants produce, and the plants benefit from birds dispersing those seeds. Okay, so here's a truly remarkable case of symbiosis. The relationship between the spotted salamander, a type of amphibian living in ponds, and green algae, which are tiny plant-like aquatic organisms. The partnership begins when the salamander lays its eggs in freshwater ponds. The salamander eggs are contained within a jelly-like capsule, and the algae from the pond move in and form an integral part of this jelly-like mass as the embryos develop. All the while, the algae are photosynthesizing, transforming sunlight into usable energy, a process that releases oxygen. This is critical because the embryos need oxygen, and pond water tends to be low in it. And in return, the algae get a nutrient that they need to survive: nitrogen. The embryos produce readily available nitrogen as a waste product, and the algae happily use it. And what's cool is, we now know that the algae don't just live in the egg—capsule. They can enter the embryo's cells, meaning photosynthesis is occurring inside a vertebrate, a highly advanced animal, a phenomenon almost unheard of. Corals and a few other marine invertebrates do this, but vertebrates? Extremely rare.

When we look at paintings, we often think of them as standalone creations, but they aren't always. Sometimes they converse with each other in surprising ways. Okay, Lubaina Himid, a British artist. Um, Lubaina Himid was born in 1954. In what's now Tanzania in East Africa, and she was raised in London. London's where she also developed her career as an artist. According to Hamid herself, her career expanded after 2013 when her work was shown at a gallery called Hollybush Gardens, a gallery in London. After that exhibit, critics paid more attention, and Hamid began showing her work at larger museums. And internationally outside of the United Kingdom. In her 1984 work titled "Freedom and Change," Lubaina Himid shows two Black women dancing, or maybe running. They're holding hands in the air and they just look so joyful. The scene reimagines a famous 1922 painting by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, called Two Women Running on the Beach. Picasso's painting shows two women, uh, white women, also dancing or running. They're in similar positions with similar facial expressions as the black women in Hamid's later work. This is an interesting reversal. By that I mean Picasso was known for incorporating African elements into his work. Like tribal masks. So I think it's only equitable that Hamid then incorporated Picasso's elements into her own work. Makes it a fair back and forth, a conversation in a way, you see. It's just something that wasn't seen that often.