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MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts

Year 2018 face_with_colon_three resharing face_with_colon_three

Since the first airplane took flight over 100 years ago, virtually every aircraft in the sky has flown with the help of moving parts such as propellers, turbine blades, or fans that produce a persistent, whining buzz.

Now MIT engineers have built and flown the first-ever plane with no moving parts. Instead of propellers or turbines, the light aircraft is powered by an “ionic wind” — a silent but mighty flow of ions that is produced aboard the plane, and that generates enough thrust to propel the plane over a sustained, steady flight.

Unlike turbine-powered planes, the aircraft does not depend on fossil fuels to fly. And unlike propeller-driven drones, the new design is completely silent.

“Dawn Of A New Era”: A US Nuclear Company Becomes First Ever Startup To Achieve Cold Criticality

“President Trump asked industry and the labs to make nuclear great again. We got together and decided to start with the basics of fission. This team delivered incredible results safely so we can keep moving up the technical ladder,” commented Max Ukropina, Head of Projects at Valar Atomics.

“America should be thrilled, but wanting more,” he added.

Two-step flash Joule heating method recovers lithium‑ion battery materials quickly and cleanly

A research team at Rice University led by James Tour has developed a two-step flash Joule heating-chlorination and oxidation (FJH-ClO) process that rapidly separates lithium and transition metals from spent lithium-ion batteries. The method provides an acid-free, energy-saving alternative to conventional recycling techniques, a breakthrough that aligns with the surging global demand for batteries used in electric vehicles and portable electronics.

Published in Advanced Materials, this research could transform the recovery of critical battery materials. Traditional recycling methods are often energy intensive, generate wastewater and frequently require harsh chemicals. In contrast, the FJH-ClO process achieves high yields and purity of lithium, cobalt and graphite while reducing energy consumption, chemical usage and costs.

“We designed the FJH-ClO process to challenge the notion that battery recycling must rely on acid leaching,” said Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering. “FJH-ClO is a fast, precise way to extract valuable materials without damaging them or harming the environment.”

Eve Poole on Robot Souls, Junk Code and the Future of AI

Are we building AI that enhances humanity or a master race of beautifully optimized psychopaths?

My latest Singularity. FM conversation with Dr. Eve Poole goes straight to the nerve:

What makes us human, and what happens when we leave that out of our machines?

Eve argues that the very things Silicon Valley dismisses as “junk code”—our emotions, intuition, uncertainty, meaning-making, story, conscience, even our mistakes—aren’t flaws in our design. They’re the *reason* our species survived. And we’re coding almost none of it into AI.

The result? Systems with immense intelligence but no soul, no context, no humanity—and therefore, no reason to value us.

In this wide-ranging conversation, we dig into:

🔹 Why the real hallmarks of humanity aren’t IQ but junk code 🔹 Consciousness, soul, and the limits of rationalist AI thinking 🔹 Theology, capitalism & tech: how we ended up copying the wrong parts of ourselves 🔹 Why “alignment” is really a parenting challenge, not a control problem 🔹 What Tolkien, u-catastrophe, and ancient stories can teach us about surviving the future 🔹 Why programming in humanity isn’t for AI’s sake—it’s for ours.

Continue reading “Eve Poole on Robot Souls, Junk Code and the Future of AI” | >

Ultra-strong, lightweight metal composite can withstand extreme heat

University of Toronto researchers have designed a new composite material that is both very light and extremely strong—even at temperatures up to 500 Celsius.

The material, which is described in a paper published in Nature Communications, is made of various metallic alloys and nanoscale precipitates, and has a structure that mimics that of reinforced concrete—but on a microscopic scale.

These properties could make it extremely useful in aerospace and other high-performance industries.

Year-round edamame: Hydroponic LED plant factories redefine sustainable cultivation

Artificial light-type plant factories are an emerging agricultural innovation that enables crops to be grown year-round in precisely controlled environments. By adjusting factors such as light, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and nutrient delivery, these facilities can produce stable yields independent of climate conditions. They offer a promising way to reduce pesticide use and minimize the impacts of climate change.

However, legumes like edamame have long been considered difficult to cultivate in such settings because of their long growth periods, short storage periods, complex flowering, and pod-setting processes.

Against this backdrop, the research group, led by Professor Toshio Sano from the Faculty of Bioscience and Applied Chemistry, Hosei University, Japan, and Associate Professor Wataru Yamori of the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan, had previously gained attention for successfully cultivating tomatoes under LED lighting in a plant factory.

Calculating the spreading of fluids in porous materials to understand saltwater in soil

A solution to a tricky groundwater riddle from Australia: Researchers at TU Wien have developed numerical models to simulate the movement of fluids in porous materials.

Things are complicated along the Murray–Darling River in southern Australia. Agricultural irrigation washes salt out of the upper soil layers, and this salt eventually ends up in the river. To prevent the river’s salt concentration from rising too much, part of the is diverted into special basins.

Some of these basins are designed to let the salty water evaporate, others to slowly release it in a controlled manner in the underground. That keeps salt temporarily out of the river and allows better management of the river’s water—but it increases the salinity in the ground. How can we calculate how this saltwater spreads underground and what its will be?

NASA Balloon Detects Strange Signals Coming From Ice in Antarctica

Unusual radio signals from beneath Antarctica’s ice continue to defy explanation. Several years ago, scientists using a cosmic particle detector in Antarctica recorded a series of puzzling radio signals, according to an international research collaboration that includes experts from Penn State. Bet

3D imaging uncovers mosquito’s specialized neurons for detecting carbon dioxide

It’s bound to happen at a summer picnic, a peaceful walk in the woods or simply sitting in your backyard… a mosquito targets your blood for its next meal. You’ve been bitten. But how do mosquitoes find you?

Among several methods used to locate new hosts for blood-sucking, mosquitoes feature a keen ability to detect . As we breathe out, we emit CO2 into the air around us, which mosquitoes can sense. But how?

Scientists have been aware of the mosquito’s ability to detect our carbon dioxide expirations but the intricate underlying physiological structures enabling these capabilities have largely remained unclear.

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