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Sep 29, 2023

The LHC lead-ion collision run starts

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

The LHC is back delivering collisions to the experiments after the successful leak repair in August. But instead of protons, it is now the turn of lead ion beams to collide, marking the first heavy-ion run in 5 years. Compared to previous runs, the lead nuclei will be colliding with an increased energy of 5.36 TeV per nucleon pair (compared to 5.02 TeV previously) and the collision rate has increased by a factor of 10. The primary physics goal of this run is the study of the elusive state of matter known as quark-gluon plasma, that is believed to have filled the Universe up to a millionth of a second after the Big Bang and can be recreated in the laboratory in heavy-ion collisions.

Quark-gluon plasma is a state of matter made of free quarks (particles that make up hadrons such as the proton and the neutron) and gluons (carriers of the strong interaction, which hold the quarks together inside the hadrons). In all but the most extreme conditions, quarks cannot exist individually and are bound inside hadrons. In heavy-ion collisions however, hundreds of protons and neutrons collide, forming a system with such density and temperature that the colliding nuclei melt together, and a tiny fireball of quark-gluon plasma forms, the hottest substance known to exist. Inside this fireball quarks and gluons can move around freely for a split-second, until the plasma expands and cools down, turning back into hadrons.

The ongoing heavy-ion run is expected to bring significant advances in our understanding of quark-gluon plasma. In addition to the improved parameters of the lead-ion beams, significant upgrades have been performed in the experiments that detect and analyse the collisions. ALICE, the experiment which primarily focuses on studies of quark-gluon plasma, is now using an entirely new mode of data processing storing all collisions without selection, resulting in up to 100 times more collisions being recorded per second. In addition, its track reconstruction efficiency and precision have increased due to the installation of new subsystems and upgrades of existing ones. CMS and ATLAS have also upgraded their data acquisition, reconstruction and selection infrastructure to take advantage of the increased collision rates. ATLAS has installed improved Zero Degree Calorimeters, which are critical in event selection and provide new measurement capabilities.

Sep 29, 2023

Your website can now opt out of training Google’s Bard and future AIs

Posted by in categories: internet, robotics/AI

Large language models are trained on all kinds of data, most of which it seems was collected without anyone’s knowledge or consent. Now you have a choice whether to allow your web content to be used by Google as material to feed its Bard AI and any future models it decides to make.

It’s as simple as disallowing “User-Agent: Google-Extended” in your site’s robots.txt, the document that tells automated web crawlers what content they’re able to access.

Though Google claims to develop its AI in an ethical, inclusive way, the use case of AI training is meaningfully different than indexing the web.

Sep 29, 2023

Ethics key issue for human research in private space travel

Posted by in categories: business, ethics, space

With the growth of the commercial spaceflight business comes new ethical issues about human experimentation.

The expansion of the commercial spaceflight sector opens new avenues for scientific study in the unique environment of space.

However, it also raises ethical concerns about the conduct of scientific experiments and studies involving human volunteers on commercial spaceflights.

Sep 29, 2023

This method recycles 98% of metals from batteries in 20 mins

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

The process not only shortens the time required for recycling but also reduces secondary waste streams.

The world is expected to experience a surge in battery demand as it moves to renewable energy sources. And, with the development of sustainable energy technologies, there will be a subsequent increase in the demand for precious metals used in batteries. Many of the materials used in such batteries, like lithium-ion batteries, are not available in abundance, and the best way to meet this need is to recycle old batteries.

To aid in this mission, a team of researchers at Rice University in the United States of America has developed a new recycling process that helps salvage more than 98 percent… More.

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Sep 29, 2023

Researchers find success with stem cell therapy in mice model of Alzheimer’s disease

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

In a Stanford Medicine study, scientists transplanted stem cells into mice and found reduction of brain abnormalities typical of Alzheimer’s disease.

Sep 29, 2023

For 1st time, scientists write words in liquid water

Posted by in category: futurism

Scientists used a process called ‘diffusioosmosis’ to write words that lingered in liquid water.

Sep 29, 2023

New scooter battery can charge in 5 minutes. Can it transform electric cars?

Posted by in categories: chemistry, computing, mobile phones, nanotechnology, sustainability, transportation

Most of today’s EVs use lithium-ion batteries, the same kind you’ll find in your smartphone or laptop. These batteries all have two electrodes (one positive and one negative), and the negative one is usually made of graphite.

While the battery is being charged, the lithium ions flow from the side of the battery with the positive electrode to the side with the negative electrode. If the charging happens too fast, the flow can be disrupted, causing the battery to short circuit.

StoreDot’s EV battery replaces the graphite electrode with one made from nanoparticles based on the chemical element germanium — this allows the ions to flow more smoothly and quickly, enabling a faster charge.

Sep 29, 2023

ChatGPT can now search the internet to answer prompts

Posted by in category: internet

Robert Way/iStock.

ChatGPT was not connected to the internet and was equipped to answer questions related to data it was trained on until September 2021. If you asked ChatGPT who won the FIFA World Cup in 2022, it wouldn’t have been able to answer.

Sep 29, 2023

Fish Oil Supplementation: No Impact On NAD

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, health

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Sep 29, 2023

Living on the edge: Supernova bubble expands in new Hubble time-lapse movie

Posted by in categories: cosmology, materials

Though a doomed star exploded some 20,000 years ago, its tattered remnants continue racing into space at breakneck speeds—and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has caught the action.

The nebula, called the Cygnus Loop, forms a bubble-like shape that is about 120 light-years in diameter. The distance to its center is approximately 2,600 light-years. The entire nebula has a width of six full moons as seen on the sky.

Astronomers used Hubble to zoom into a very small slice of the leading edge of this expanding supernova bubble, where the supernova blast wave plows into surrounding material in space. Hubble images taken from 2001 to 2020 clearly demonstrate how the remnant’s shock front has expanded over time, and they used the crisp images to clock its speed.