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Jan 9, 2024

First functional semiconductor made from graphene

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, mobile phones, quantum physics

The first functional semiconductor made from graphene has been created at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This could enable smaller and faster electronic devices and may have applications for quantum computing.

Credit: Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Jan 9, 2024

Photo Shows Damaged Moon Lander Languishing in Orbit

Posted by in category: space travel

As a result, the company is now racing to make the most of the situation, though a full Moon landing is now sounding more or less impossible.

“We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time,” the company wrote.

It’s a sad state of affairs. In the most recent update, the company shared the first photo the lander snapped in space, showing a creased layer of insulation, which may have contributed to the spacecraft’s ongoing issues.

Jan 9, 2024

Experimental Therapy Eases Alzheimer’s Signs, Symptoms in Mice

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

The therapy—developed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)—relies on both the immune system to fight key aspects of Alzheimer’s, plus modified cells that zero in on the brain protein plaques that are a hallmark of the disease.

In patients with Alzheimer’s, amyloid-beta protein forms plaques that prevent nerve cells from signaling each other. One theory is that this might cause irreversible memory loss and behavior changes characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

The new study was recently published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration. Researchers used genetically modified immune-controlling cells called Tregs to target amyloid-beta.

Jan 9, 2024

Probabilistic perspectives in brain dysfunctions

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Shared with Dropbox.

Jan 9, 2024

Cells Across the Body Talk to Each Other About Aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

The research builds on a recent body of work that suggests that #mitochondria are social organelles that can talk to one another even when they are in different tissues.


Biologists discovered that mitochondria in different tissues talk to each other to repair injured cells. When their signal fails, the biological clock starts winding down.

Jan 9, 2024

Researchers develop strategy for adding keystone species to collapsing ecosystems

Posted by in categories: climatology, sustainability

There are very few animals as important to our world as honeybees. There is, of course, the delicious honey they produce, but they are also essential in maintaining food security and the biodiversity that is threatened by climate change and becoming our strongest natural defense against it.

But with the planet facing a -induced loss of , what happens when honeybees die?

New Northeastern University research, published in Communications Biology, aims to help address the impending biodiversity crisis. The researchers say they have found a new strategy for restoring lost biodiversity by, essentially, identifying the equivalent of a honeybee in different ecosystems and reintroducing it into a particular collapsing ecosystem.

Jan 9, 2024

From indoor solar to light-based internet, photonics offers a brighter future

Posted by in categories: energy, internet

Soon, our devices will get power from the light around us and send information at incredible speeds while being safer and more efficient. Here’s a look at what’s new in photonics at CES 2024.

Jan 9, 2024

Space Force taps Microsoft to build cloud-based, simulated space environment

Posted by in categories: augmented reality, space

The Space Force announced Friday that it has given Microsoft a contract to continue work on a simulated environment where guardians can train, test new capabilities and interact with digital copies of objects in orbit.

Under the $19.8 million, one-year contract from Space Systems Command (SSC), Microsoft will develop the Integrated, Immersive, Intelligent Environment (I3E) — an augmented reality space simulation powered by the company’s HoloLens headsets. The training tool is a successor to the service’s Immersive Digital Facility (IDF) prototype developed in 2023, according to a press release.

The contract period began Dec. 1, and the deal includes a reserved scope for an additional three years of work, per the release.

Jan 9, 2024

Mysterious crypto ‘dark money’ group ramps up lobbying efforts ahead of 2024 election

Posted by in categories: economics, government

A new mysterious nonprofit group backed by the crypto industry has set up a mailing address about 100 miles away from Washington, D.C., and is making moves to exert power in the nation’s capital.

The Cedar Innovation Foundation, a 501©(4) that was incorporated in Delaware in April, has launched advertisements against at least one powerful lawmaker who’s up for reelection, and quietly hired a group of strategists to fight on its behalf, according to records uncovered by CNBC.

It’s part of a broader effort by the crypto industry to influence Congress ahead of the 2024 elections and as a variety of crypto-related bills begin to weave their way through Washington.

Jan 9, 2024

A New Way to Characterize Habitable Planets

Posted by in categories: alien life, evolution

For decades, science fiction authors have imagined scenarios in which life thrives on the harsh surfaces of Mars or our moon, or in the oceans below the icy surfaces of Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa. But the study of habitability—the conditions required to support and sustain life—is not just confined to the pages of fiction. As more planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond are investigated for their potential to host conditions favorable to life, researchers are debating how to characterize habitability.

While many studies have focused on the information obtained by orbiting spacecraft or telescopes that provide snapshot views of ocean worlds and exoplanets, a new paper emphasizes the importance of investigating complex geophysical factors that can be used to predict the long-term maintenance of life. These factors include how energy and nutrients flow throughout the planet.

“Time is a crucial factor in characterizing habitability,” says Mark Simons, John W. and Herberta M. Miles Professor of Geophysics at Caltech. “You need time for evolution to happen. To be habitable for a millisecond or a year is not enough. But if habitable conditions are sustained for a million years, or a billion…? Understanding a planet’s habitability takes a nuanced perspective that requires astrobiologists and geophysicists to talk to each other.”