Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Scientists have found three new species that are close relatives to the plant from which chocolate is produced—a discovery that could pave the way for climate-proof chocolate. The team’s research has been published in the journal Kew Bulletin.

The , discovered in the rain forests of South America, are closely related to Theobroma cacao, the tree that bears which are of tremendous economic importance.

The research team comprising scientists from University College Cork (UCC), the University of São Paulo and New York Botanical Garden say their finding is significant as it indicates that there is much work still to be done in characterizing Earth’s biodiversity.

Read more | >

It resembles a malevolent robot from 1980s sci-fi but West Japan Railway’s new humanoid employee was designed with nothing more sinister than a spot of painting and gardening in mind.

Starting this month, the machine with a crude head and coke-bottle eyes mounted on a truck—which can drive on rails—will be put to use for on the firm’s network.

Its operator sits in a cockpit on the truck, “seeing” through the robot’s eyes via cameras and operating its powerful limbs and hands remotely.

Read more | >

A new microscopy method has allowed researchers to detect tiny changes in the atomic-level architecture of crystalline materials like advanced steels for ship hulls and custom silicon for electronics. It could advance our ability to understand the fundamental origins of materials properties and behaviour.

In a paper published today in Nature Materials, researchers from the University of Sydney’s School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering introduced a new way to decode the atomic relationships within materials.

The breakthrough could assist in the development of stronger and lighter alloys for the aerospace industry, new generation semiconductors for electronics, and improved magnets for electric motors. It could also enable the creation of sustainable, efficient and cost-effective products.

Read more | >

One of the challenges of cramming smarter and more powerful electronics into ever-shrinking devices is developing the tools and techniques to analyze the materials that make them up with increasingly intimate precision.

Physicists at Michigan State University have taken a long-awaited step on that front with an approach that combines high-resolution microscopy with ultrafast lasers.

The technique, described in the journal Nature Photonics (“Atomic-scale terahertz time-domain spectroscopy”), enables researchers to spot misfit atoms in semiconductors with unparalleled precision. Semiconductor physics labels these atoms as “defects,” which sounds negative, but they’re usually added to materials on purpose and are critically important to the performance of semiconductors in today’s — and tomorrow’s — devices.

Read more | >

Renewable generation should be around 50 per cent of supply on Australia’s main grid by July, 2026, although it might be a bit less depending on progress on the second stage of Golden Plains, which will be the country’s biggest wind farm – at least for a time – when complete.

To get to 80 per cent by 2030 will partly depend on what happens to demand. If demand is flat, then capacity capable of supplying around 67 terawatt hours (TWh) a year will be needed. After allowing for rooftop solar, I reckon that equates to about 25 gigawatts of new capacity, maybe a bit more.

That’s a heck of an ask, but in my opinion still possible and broadly in line with the objectives and scale of the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS). I’ll have more to say on the role of the CIS once I get round to talking about ITK’s price forecasts, but that can wait. We’re talking capacity and output in this not.

Read more | >

Like a scene from the movies, a team of researchers from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) has developed new ways to freely produce and customize the food that we eat.

Their findings have been published in the journal Future Foods as “Multi-material direct ink writing 3D food printing using multi-channel nozzle.”

Three-dimensional (3D) printing using is currently the favored approach to shaping foods with unique structures, textures, and nutritional compositions.

Read more | >