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If you want to improve the output of solar energy systems, why not also run them at night? That’s the question researchers in Qatar and Jordan addressed as they successfully devised a system that promises to more than double energy output of current solar power stations.

By combining two concepts—a solar updraft system and a cooling downdraft structure—researchers designed a model that could generate 753 MWh of energy annually. That’s enough to power roughly 753 homes for about five weeks or 1,500 60-watt light bulbs nonstop for a year.

The origins of the system, referred to as Solar Tower Power Plant, go back to 1982 when Spanish engineers constructed a chimney-like tower with a mechanical turbine at its base. Air within the tower was warmed by absorbing solar radiation, similar to a greenhouse. As the air heated, it created an updraft that rose and activated wind turbines that in turn generated electricity.

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A protein in the immune system programmed to protect the body from fungal infections is also responsible for exacerbating the severity of certain autoimmune diseases such as irritable bowel disease (IBS), type 1 diabetes, eczema and other chronic disorders, new research from The Australian National University (ANU) has found.

The discovery could pave the way for new and more effective drugs, without the nasty side effects of existing treatments. In addition to helping to manage severe autoimmune conditions, the breakthrough could also help treat all types of cancer. The work has been published in Science Advances.

The scientists have discovered a previously unknown function of the protein, known as DECTIN-1, which in its mutated state limits the production of T regulatory cells or so-called ‘guardian’ cells in the immune system.

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NASA’s Cassini probe has uncovered compelling evidence hinting at the potential existence of life on Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus.

Interestingly, a detailed review of Cassini’s data has revealed that the subsurface ocean hidden beneath the moon’s frozen surface is a rich source of chemical energy.

This disclosure strengthens the case for exploring the possibility of life within the ocean of this frozen celestial body.

According to the research, the more chemical energy there is on this moon, the higher the likelihood that life could flourish and endure.

Continue reading “Saturn’s icy moon hosts vital life source, key molecule, reveals NASA” | >

No one has yet managed to travel through time – at least to our knowledge – but the question of whether or not such a feat would be theoretically possible continues to fascinate scientists.

As movies such as The Terminator, Donnie Darko, Back to the Future and many others show, moving around in time creates a lot of problems for the fundamental rules of the Universe: if you go back in time and stop your parents from meeting, for instance, how can you possibly exist in order to go back in time in the first place?

It’s a monumental head-scratcher known as the ‘grandfather paradox’, but a few years ago physics student Germain Tobar, from the University of Queensland in Australia, worked out how to “square the numbers” to make time travel viable without the paradoxes.

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NASA has awarded Blue Origin a $35 million contract to further develop a technology that creates solar cells out of lunar regolith — the dust and crushed rock blanketing the moon’s surface.

“[W]e’re inspired and humbled to receive this investment from NASA to advance our innovation,” said Pat Remias, VP of Blue Origin’s Capabilities Directorate. “First we return humans to the moon, then we start to ‘live off the land.’”

Moon or bust: NASA plans to send astronauts to the moon again as soon as 2025, with the goal of establishing a long-term presence on the lunar surface soon after. For that to work, it’s going to need a way to provide astronauts with a steady supply of everything they need to survive and thrive, from food and water to oxygen and electricity.

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Berkshire Hathaway said on Tuesday it has shed its holdings in General Motors and Procter & Gamble, and trimmed its stake in Amazon.com, as the conglomerate controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett boosted its cash pile to a record $157.2 billion.

In a regulatory filing detailing its U.S.-listed stock holdings as of Sept. 30, Berkshire reported no holdings in GM and P&G, after reporting stakes of $848 million and $48 million in June, and said it reduced its stake in Amazon by 5%.

Berkshire also appeared to have shed what had been a $621 million stake in Celanese, a specialty materials company.

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As a result, he’s built a network of peers who can relate to his challenges, name-dropping Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, who had appeared on the same podcast just a few weeks before, as one of them.

“Daniel Ek doesn’t know the Brian before Airbnb,” Chesky explained. “So maybe he doesn’t know ‘the real me’…but he does know a different ‘real me’ that my childhood friends can’t know, because high school and college friends can’t possibly know what it’s like for me to go through what I’m going through.

I can tell it to them, and they can have compassion, but they can’t possibly know what I’m talking about. But Daniel can.

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The afterlife Jones made.

For as long as we have had history and likely before, people have contemplated a life after this one, but might we one day create artificial afterlives? And if so, will we create heavens or hells?\
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Credits:\
Artificial Afterlives \
Science \& Futurism with Isaac Arthur\
Episode 399, June 15, 2023\
Written, Produced \& Narrated by Isaac Arthur\
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Editors:\
Dillon Olander\
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Graphics by: \
Jeremy Jozwik\
Ken York\
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Music Courtesy of\
Markus Junnikkala, \

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