Lifeboat Foundation

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Apple’s M2 is taking serious potshots at x86 and the larger Intel ecosystem. The ARM threat may not be here yet, but it’s on the horizon.

The question was whether something similar would hold in three dimensions. At his lab, Datta investigates such questions using glass beads that mimic see-through soil or sediment. “There’s this quote from the great American philosopher and baseball player, Yogi Berra: ‘You can observe a lot by just watching,’” he said. “I think that’s my entire research program in a nutshell.”

Datta and his co-investigator Christopher Browne introduced their own fluorescent microparticles into polymer-containing fluids, then filmed the movement of the complex fluids through their setup. As the flow rate increased, the liquid began to tumble and loop back on itself, first in a pore or two, then in several more, and eventually in all the pores. The researchers knew that this had to be elastic turbulence because the influence of inertia in these substances was extremely low, at least a million times below the typical threshold for inertial turbulence’s appearance. Their findings appeared on November 5 in Science Advances.

Datta is most excited about potentially harnessing elastic turbulence to clean dirty groundwater. Researchers have tried to clear up polluted underground aquifers by pumping a polymer-containing fluid into them, which should force the water through underground rocks that trap the contaminants. The new work could help researchers formulate the fluids to better accomplish such a task, Datta said.

Circa 2020

Researchers say there are good reasons to be optimistic about the future of our oceans.

A geological mystery is unfolding far beneath our feet, and it may shed light on the life-sustaining magnetic field that extends far above our heads.

Each year, the solid-iron inner core at the heart of our planet expands by about a millimeter as the Earth’s nether regions cool and solidify. According to a recent study, one side appears to be growing faster — but scientists don’t know why.

This phenomenon likely dates back to the inner core’s creation, between 1.5 billion and half a billion years ago. At this point, after billions of years of cooling, the Earth’s fiery interior finally lost enough heat to begin an ongoing process of crystallization. Now, as the outer core’s molten iron loses heat, it crystallizes to become the newest layer of the inner core.

Continue reading “Earth’s inner core is growing lopsided” »

How will we ensure there’s enough parking if we don’t require property owners to provide any? There’s a simple answer to this question.

Based on what I have observed while dodging pedestrians with heads-down watching TikTok video clips, my answer is yes.