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A common carbon compound is enabling remarkable performance enhancements when mixed in just the right proportion with copper to make electrical wires. It’s a phenomenon that defies conventional wisdom about how metals conduct electricity.

The findings, reported in the journal Materials & Design, could lead to more efficient electricity distribution to homes and businesses, as well as more efficient motors to power electric vehicles and industrial equipment. The team has applied for a patent for the work, which was supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office.

Materials scientist Keerti Kappagantula and her colleagues at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory discovered that graphene, single layers of the same graphite found in pencils, can enhance an important property of metals called the temperature coefficient of resistance.

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KSTAR, the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy’s (KFE) artificial Sun, has completed a significant modification that would allow it to function for longer periods at higher temperatures. KSTAR stands for Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research, an advanced nuclear fusion reactor constructed in 2007.

The development in this regard involved the installation of its newly developed tungsten divertors, “allowing it to operate for extended periods sustaining high-temperature plasma over the 100 million degrees,” according to a statement by the institute.

The team claimed they could complete a plasma experiment with the reactor equipped with the new divertor on December 21. In 2021, KSTAR set a new record by running at one million degrees and maintaining super-hot plasma for 30 seconds.

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Jason Banta, vice president of AMD, believes that integrating AI into computers will make them more personal, more secure, and better able to understand what users want.

Banta predicts wider adoption of AI-enabled laptops by 2024, with a “major inflection point” starting in 2025. The biggest challenge will be scaling down models to run efficiently on laptops.

In general, Banta expects to see a shift from cloud AI applications to smaller models that run directly on computers in real-time and can be trained locally.

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In their public lecture at Perimeter on May 1, 2019, neuroscientist Anne M. Andrews and nanoscientist Paul S. Weiss outlined their scientific collaboration and explained the importance of communicating across disciplines to target significant problems. \
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ESA’s Euclid mission is on a quest to unveil the nature of two elusive ‘dark’ entities. As the renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking remarked in 2013, “The missing link in cosmology is the nature of dark matter and dark energy”

During the last 70 years, scientists have made enormous progress in understanding the very initial phases of the Universe and its evolution to the present day. Thanks to advances in observations and theoretical modelling, a clear picture has emerged of how stars form, and how galaxies grow and interact with each other, coming together to form groups and clusters.

Yet, fundamental mysteries remain. 95% of the Universe appears to be made up of unknown ‘dark’ matter and energy. Dark matter and energy affect the motion and distribution of visible sources but do not emit, reflect or absorb any light. And scientists do not know what these dark entities actually are.

To address this question, Euclid will create a great map of the large-scale structure of the Universe across space and time by observing with unprecedented accuracy billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years. This is not easy, and making sure that Euclid is up to the task has required the expertise and dedication of many people over several years of work.

Continue reading “Euclid: Gate to the dark” | >

Chinese automaker Nio’s flagship electric sedan, the ET7, completed a historic journey of 649 miles (1,044 kilometers) on a single charge. The feat, led by Nio’s CEO William Li, not only showcased the capabilities of the ET7 but also highlighted the advancements in Nio’s cutting-edge battery technology.

CEO William Li’s announcement on Weibo

Nio’s CEO, William Li, took to the Chinese social media platform Weibo to announce the success of the 150kWh battery endurance challenge. He shared, “The 150kWh battery life challenge was completed, with a final score of 1,044 kilometers!” Li emphasized the challenging conditions, including a nationwide cold wave, during the 14-hour journey from Shanghai to Xiamen. Despite starting at a chilly 28 Fahrenheit (−2 degrees Celsius), the ET7 showcased exceptional performance, reaching its destination with 3 percent battery power remaining.

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