Polar bears, while deceptively cute, are actually powerful predators in real life. But, for the inhabitants of the Arctic, co-existing with polar bears is a part of everyday life, and maintaining a respectful distance is the key here. Due to melting ice, the natural territory of the bears is being encroached on, making them spend more time on land. So, they’re increasingly coming in close contact with humans, with a risk of devastating consequences as a result. Thankfully, researchers have developed a life-saving gadget named Bear-Dar to warn the Arctic people of approaching polar bears.

The Gadget

The non-profit organization named Polar Bears International, or PBI, has been testing this Bear-Dar for the last four years. It’s an AI-powered radar device, installed in Churchill, Manitoba, and is a modified military system programmed to detect polar bears. Agent Alyssa Bohart has been stationed there to remotely operate a camera and visually confirm that the radar is making the right call. Every time she sends her confirmation, the search party gets on to locate the bear and drive it safely into the wild.

The Objective

The idea of this project sparked while PBI was trying to develop new ways to prevent polar bear-human conflicts in the Arctic region. SpotterRF, a company that specializes in the making of various military radar devices, gave them the idea that instead of detecting any approaching vehicle or drone, they could harness the power of the radar system to detect polar bears heading toward localities and send out early warnings. According to a staff scientist with PBI, Alysa McCall, their main objective was to manage human-bear interactions and to make sure of having more nonlethal options. In 2020, the team incorporated A.I. into the Bear-Dar to make it learn the difference between a polar bear and other animals, and to narrow down the field of search and motion alerts.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has captured footage of what appears to be electrical “sprites” or “elves” in the atmosphere of Jupiter. This is the first time such phenomena were observed on the gas giant. The new results suggest that these lightning-like electrical outbursts would normally occur in the upper reaches of the famous tumultuous atmosphere of Jupiter.

The Sprites On Jupiter Are the First to Have Been Observed On Another Planet

On Earth, bright flashes caused by thunderstorms and lightning strikes can create tendrils that are called “sprites” or glowing disks, which are known as “elves.” These transient luminous events were believed to also occur on Jupiter because of its lighting storms, but they had not been observed so far.

Last summer, Juno’s ultraviolet spectrograph instrument allowed researchers to observe Jupiter’s aurora, and that resulted in a surprise discovery of a bright narrow streak of ultraviolet light emission. Although it disappeared very quickly, the event gave scientists reason to believe they have detected a transient luminous event on Jupiter.

On Earth, Sprites and Elves Appear Different

Sprites and elves are events that last for just milliseconds and are triggered by lightning charges from violent thunderstorms that look like a giant red sky jellyfish. They are usually over in a flash and appear reddish in color because they interact with our nitrogen-rich atmosphere. On Jupiter, the atmosphere is mainly hydrogen, which is why the sprites and elves appear pink or blue.

Transient luminous events on Jupiter were confirmed after scientists searched over the Juno mission data from the last four years and found eleven bright events that took place in a region known to form thunder and lightning. After the researchers confirmed the events lasted just milliseconds and were not just mega-bolts of lightning, they were able to say these were in fact sprites or elves. Now that scientists know what they are looking for, they look forward to finding more evidence on Jupiter and even on other planets that are known for having thunderstorms.