Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers wirelessly charged a light-duty passenger EV at 100 kW with 96% efficiency – a new milestone.
Scientists at the US Department of Energy-funded ORNL wirelessly charged the EV using polyphase electromagnetic coupling coils with rotating magnetic fields.
ORNL’s patented system transferred power to a Hyundai Kona EV across a five-inch air gap using electromagnetic fields, a process similar to the wireless charging of small consumer devices.
Scientists have discovered a universal pattern of brain waves in multiple primate species, including humans.
This pattern of electrical activity is seen in the six layers of tissue that cover the outside of mammals’ brains, known as the cerebral cortex. In primates, higher frequency waves of electrical activity dance through the most superficial layers while slower waves bubble in layers below.
Apple Vision Pro is currently available exclusively in the US. Although Apple has already said that the headset will come to more countries by the end of 2024, there are no details about which countries Apple has in mind to launch Vision Pro next. However, visionOS code gives us a hint of what to expect for the product’s international expansion.
Bellevue, Wash.-based Lumen Orbit, a startup that’s only about three months old, says that it’s closed a $2.4 million pre-seed investment round to launch its plan to put hundreds of satellites in orbit, with the goal of processing data in space before it’s downlinked to customers on Earth.
The investors include Nebular, Caffeinated Capital, Plug & Play, Everywhere Ventures, Tiny.vc, Sterling Road, Pareto Holdings and Foreword Ventures. There are also more than 20 angel investors, including four Sequoia Scouts investing through the Sequoia Scout Fund. “The round was 3x oversubscribed,” Lumen CEO and co-founder Philip Johnston told GeekWire in an email.
Johnston is a former associate at McKinsey & Co. who also co-founded an e-commerce venture called Opontia. Lumen’s other co-founders are chief technology officer Ezra Feilden, whose resume includes engineering experience at Oxford Space Systems and Airbus Defense and Space; and chief engineer Adi Oltean, who worked as a principal software engineer at SpaceX’s Starlink facility in Redmond, Wash.
A study finds that baby mammals dream about the world they are about to experience to prepare their senses.
A technique called time-and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (TR-ARPES) has emerged as a powerful tool, allowing researchers to explore the equilibrium and dynamical properties of quantum materials via light-matter interaction.
A universal basic income pilot program that would sprinkle $100 million across the state in the form of no less than $500 monthly cash payments to certain low-income Minnesotans — including illegal immigrants — advanced in a state House committee on Tuesday.
Rep. Athena Hollins, DFL-St. Paul, introduced HF2666 last year. The bill didn’t receive a hearing amidst a historic legislative session where Democrats spent down a $17.5 billion surplus and increased the state budget by more than 38 percent. But with news earlier this month that the state has a projected $3.7 billion surplus, Hollins’ bill received a hearing in the House Children and Families Committee.
The bill passed through the committee on a voice vote. Its next stop is the House Human Services Finance Committee. Its Senate companion bill is sponsored by five Senate Democrats and has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.
Posted in space
The first detection of water molecules on the surface of asteroids has been confirmed, following spectral analysis of two large main‑belt objects.
Credit: Courtesy of NASA/Carla Thomas/SwRI
Using data from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) – a joint project of NASA and Germany’s space agency – scientists have, for the first time, discovered water molecules on the surface of an asteroid. A team of researchers looked at four silicate-rich asteroids using an instrument known as Faint Object infraRed CAmera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST), which isolated the mid-infrared spectral signatures indicating molecular water on two of them.
AI startup company Figure, which emerged from stealth last year, has unveiled the latest upgrades to its Figure 1 humanoid robot.
Founded in 2022 and publicly announced in March 2023, Figure is a California-based company with 80 employees that is building autonomous, general‑purpose humanoid robots. Its aim is to address labour shortages, fill jobs that are undesirable or unsafe for humans, and support a supply chain on a global scale.
The company is backed by a number of tech leaders including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, chipmaker NVIDIA, and Microsoft, and it recently announced a deal with ChatGPT‑maker OpenAI. Figure’s latest round of funding – which closed at $675 million – brought its total valuation to an impressive $2.6 billion.
[TIME SUBJECT TO CHANGE] This is the third fully integrated full stack test flight of Starship and the mighty Super Heavy booster, the largest and most powerful rocket to ever fly. It produces over twice as much thrust as the Saturn V that took humans to the moon.
The goal of the test is to get further along than IFT-2 in November, 2023, which didn’t see either the ship or the booster make it to reentry. If all goes well, Starship will re-enter in the Indian Ocean about 65 minutes after it lifts off from Starbase, TX, on a suborbital trajectory.
This test features a few new things like opening and closing a small payload door, a propellant transfer demonstration and a Raptor engine relight demonstration.
Want more information? Check out our Prelaunch Preview written by Austin Desisto — https://everydayastronaut.com/starship-superheavy-integrated-flight-test-3/
Want to know where to watch this live? I made a video on how to visit Starbase and where to watch a launch from — https://youtu.be/aWvHrih-Juk.
Learn more about Everyday Astronaut Mission Control by Guinn Partners! — http://guinnpartners.com.
