Two researchers whose work has led to the AI revolution won the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics. A materials physicist explains statistical mechanics, the physics field behind their discoveries.
“The isotope values of these carbonates point toward extreme amounts of evaporation, suggesting that these carbonates likely formed in a climate that could only support transient liquid water,” said Dr. David Burtt.
Was the planet Mars ever habitable and what conditions led to it becoming the uninhabitable world we see today? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to address as a team of researchers from the United States and Canada investigated how carbonate minerals found within Gale Crater on Mars could help paint a clearer picture of past conditions on the Red Planet and whether it was habitable. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of Mars and whether it once had the necessary conditions to support life as we know it.
Studying carbonate minerals is important due to their ability to tell scientists how a climate formed and evolved over time, with these carbonate minerals containing large amounts of carbon and oxygen isotopes, specifically Carbon-13 and Oxygen-18, which the study notes is the highest amount of these isotopes identified on the Red Planet. Carbon-13 and Oxygen-18 are known as environmental isotopes, which are used to better understand the interactions between a planet’s ocean and atmosphere and how life could exist. While Earth is the only known planet to support life, studying these isotopes on Mars could help scientists better understand if life could have formed on Mars long ago.
Continue reading “The Habitable Mars? Examining Isotopes in Gale Crater” »
University of Toronto professor Geoffrey Hinton has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in AI. Adrian Ghobrial has more.
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Continue reading “Meet Geoffrey Hinton: Winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics” »
Researchers at Concordia have developed a novel method of 3D printing that uses acoustic holograms. And they say it’s quicker than existing methods and capable of making more complex objects.
Hydrogen fuel, which produces no heat-trapping air pollution at the point of use, could be the future of clean energy. But first, some of the technology around still has to be improved, and researchers at the University of Alberta believe they have made an important step in that direction, AL Circle reported.
The breakthrough out of the University of Alberta is a new alloy material — dubbed AlCrTiVNi5 — that consists of metals such as aluminum and nickel. The alloy has great potential for coating surfaces that have to endure extremely high temperatures, such as gas turbines, power stations, airplane engines, and hydrogen combustion engines.
“Satellite navigation (GPS) degraded or inoperable for hours,” the SWPC warned.” Radio – HF (high frequency) radio propagation sporadic or blacked out.”
This severe geomagnetic storm is forecast at the same time Hurricane Milton is forecast to strike Florida. While the SWPC did not note if satellite issues could hinder hurricane monitoring, radio blackouts are expected.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has submitted a new “Proposed Remedy Framework” to correct Google’s violation of antitrust antitrust laws in the country (h/t Mishaal Rahman). This framework seeks to remedy the harm caused by Google’s search distribution and revenue sharing, generation and display for search results, advertising scale and monetization, and accumulation and use of data.
The most drastic of the proposed solutions includes preventing Google from using its products, such as Chrome, Play, and Android, to advantage Google Search and related products. Other solutions include allowing websites to opt-out of training or appearing in Google-owned AI products, such as in AI Overviews in Google Search.
Google responded to this by asserting that “DOJ’s radical and sweeping proposals risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers.” While the company intends to respond in detail to DoJ’s final proposals, it says that the DoJ is “already signaling requests that go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case.”
Radian Aerospace has $31 million of funding to develop a single stage to orbit spaceplane. It will use a 3,000 meter long sled to get it up to launch speed. It will deliver 2.27 tons to anywhere on Earth in under one hour. It can land on a regular runway.
The Spaceplane will be about as long as a Boeing 787 and as wide as a 737.
The spaceplane is designed to be fully reusable for up to 100 missions. They plan a 48-hour turnaround time between flights and a 90-minute on-demand launch capability, significantly reducing costs and increasing mission flexibility.
Scientists have devised a method to detect nuclear decay through the subtle movement of microparticles, enhancing our understanding of elusive particles like neutrinos.
This breakthrough paves the way for improved nuclear monitoring tools and could be enhanced by future quantum technologies.
Radioactivity is all around us, even in everyday items. For example, bananas contain trace amounts of radioactive potassium, with approximately 10 nuclei decaying every second in a typical banana. While these tiny amounts of radioactivity are not dangerous, there is growing scientific interest in enhancing the precision of tools for detecting such nuclear decays.
Researchers have discovered how a cell surface protein called Aplp1 can play a role in spreading material responsible for Parkinson’s disease from cell-to-cell in the brain.
Promisingly, an FDA-approved cancer drug that targets another protein called Lag3 – which interacts with Aplp1 – blocks the spread in mice, suggesting a potential therapy may already exist.
In a recent paper, an international team of scientists describes how the two proteins work together to help harmful alpha-synuclein protein clumps get into brain cells.
