Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers from Southwest University in China have constructed the entire chromosomal-scale genome assembly and complete spidroin gene set of the golden orb-weaving spider, Trichonephila clavata, known for its especially strong, golden-colored webs.

They attest that their work “Provides multidimensional data that significantly expand the knowledge of spider dragline silk generation…” and the researchers plan on using this new “molecular atlas” to better understand how spiders manufacture their silk.

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the paper details the steps the researchers took, from wild spider capture to multiomic analysis, in revealing the interplay of genes within the spider’s major ampullate gland, the gland responsible for producing dragline silk.

Climate, tectonics and time combine to create powerful forces that craft the face of our planet. Add the gradual sculpting of the Earth’s surface by rivers and what to us seems solid as rock is constantly changing.

However, our understanding of this dynamic process has at best been patchy.

Scientists today have published new research revealing a detailed and dynamic model of the Earth’s surface over the past 100 million years.

A new RMIT-led international collaboration published in February has uncovered, for the first time, a distinct disorder-driven bosonic superconductor-insulator transition.

The discovery outlines a global picture of the giant anomalous Hall effect and reveals its correlation with the unconventional charge density wave in the AV₃Sb₅ kagome metal family, with potential applications in future ultra-low energy electronics.

Superconductors, which can transmit electricity without energy dissipation, hold great promise for the development of future low-energy electronics technologies, and are already applied in diverse fields such as hover trains and high-strength magnets (such as medical MRIs).

Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are among the most widespread rechargeable battery technologies, due to their high energy densities and performances. Despite their versatility and advantageous characteristics, these batteries often require specific times to charge and speeding up these charging times has so far proved challenging.

The main reason for this is that during fast charging, lithium plating could form on the batteries’ graphite anode, which could pose safety risks. In fact, lithium plating reactions on graphite anodes, which can also occur at low temperatures, during overcharging or following battery malfunctions, can lead to the formation of non-cyclable lithium metal and salts, which could ignite causing fires or battery explosions.

Researchers at University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently carried out a study investigating potential ways to reduce these risks and enable the creation of safe fast-charging LiBs. Their paper, published in Nature Energy, outlines a series of simple techniques for quantifying irreversible Li plating on the graphite anodes inside LiBs.

Researchers have developed an AI system that can generate artificial enzymes from scratch. In laboratory experiments, some of these enzymes demonstrated efficacy comparable to natural enzymes, even when their artificially created amino acid.

Any substance that when dissolved in water, gives a pH less than 7.0, or donates a hydrogen ion.

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0:00 Afghanistan.
0:05 Albania.
0:10 Algeria.
0:15 Andorra.
0:20 Angola.
0:25 Antigua and Barbuda.
0:30 Argentina.
0:35 Armenia.
0:40 Australia.
0:45 Austria.
0:50 Azerbaijan.
0:55 The Bahamas.
1:00 Bahrain.
1:05 Bangladesh.
1:10 Barbados.
1:15 Belarus.
1:20 Belgium.
1:25 Belize.
1:30 Benin.
1:35 Bhutan.
1:40 Bolivia.
1:45 Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1:50 Botswana.
1:55 Brazil.
2:00 Brunei.
2:05 Bulgaria.
2:10 Burkina Faso.
2:15 Burundi.
2:20 Cabo Verde.
2:25 Cambodia.
2:30 Cameroon.
2:35 Canada.
2:40 Central African Republic.
2:45 Chad.
2:50 Chile.
2:55 China.
3:00 Colombia.
3:05 Comoros.
3:10 Costa Rica.
3:15 Côte d’Ivoire.
3:20 Croatia.
3:25 Cuba.
3:30 Cyprus.
3:35 Czech Republic.
3:40 Democratic Republic of the Congo.
3:45 Denmark.
3:50 Djibouti.
3:55 Dominica.
4:00 Dominican Republic.
4:05 East Timor.
4:10 Ecuador.
4:15 Egypt.
4:20 El Salvador.
4:25 Equatorial Guinea.
4:30 Eritrea.
4:35 Estonia.
4:40 Eswatini.
4:45 Ethiopia.
4:50 Fiji.
4:55 Finland.
5:00 France.
5:05 Gabon.
5:10 The Gambia.
5:15 Georgia.
5:20 Germany.
5:25 Ghana.
5:30 Greece.
5:35 Grenada.
5:40 Guatemala.
5:45 Guinea.
5:50 Guinea-Bissau.
5:55 Guyana.
6:00 Haiti.
6:05 Honduras.
6:10 Hungary.
6:15 Iceland.
6:20 India.
6:25 Indonesia.
6:30 Iran.
6:35 Iraq.
6:40 Ireland.
6:45 Israel.
6:50 Italy.
6:55 Jamaica.
7:00 Japan.
7:05 Jordan.
7:10 Kazakhstan.
7:15 Kenya.
7:20 Kiribati.
7:25 Kosovo.
7:30 Kuwait.
7:35 Kyrgyzstan.
7:40 Laos.
7:45 Latvia.
7:50 Lebanon.
7:55 Lesotho.
8:00 Liberia.
8:05 Libya.
8:10 Liechtenstein.
8:15 Lithuania.
8:20 Luxembourg.
8:25 Madagascar.
8:30 Malawi.
8:35 Malaysia.
8:40 Maldives.
8:45 Mali.
8:50 Malta.
8:55 Marshall Islands.
9:00 Mauritania.
9:05 Mauritius.
9:10 Mexico.
9:15 Federated States of Micronesia.
9:20 Moldova.
9:25 Monaco.
9:30 Mongolia.
9:32 Montenegro.
9:37 Morocco.
9:42 Mozambique.
9:47 Myanmar.
9:52 Namibia.
09:57 Nauru.
10:02 Nepal.
10:07 Netherlands.
10:12 New Zealand.
10:17 Nicaragua.
10:23 Niger.
10:28 Nigeria.
10:33 North Korea.
10:38 North Macedonia.
10:43 Norway.
10:48 Oman.
10:53 Pakistan.
10:58 Palau.
11:03 Panama.
11:08 Papua New Guinea.
11:13 Paraguay.
11:18 Peru.
11:23 Philippines.
11:28 Poland.
11:33 Portugal.
11:38 Qatar.
11:43 Romania.
11:48 Russia.
11:53 Rwanda.
11:58 Saint Kitts and Nevis.
12:03 Saint Lucia.
12:08 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
12:13 Samoa.
12:18 San Marino.
12:23 Sao Tome and Principe.
12:28 Saudi Arabia.
12:33 Senegal.
12:38 Serbia.
12:43 Seychelles.
12:48 Sierra Leone.
12:53 Singapore.
12:58 Slovakia.
13:03 Slovenia.
13:08 Solomon Islands.
13:13 Somalia.
13:18 South Africa.
13:23 South Korea.
13:28 South Sudan.
13:33 Spain.
13:38 Sri Lanka.
13:43 Sudan.
13:46 Suriname.
13:51 Sweden.
13:56 Switzerland.
14:01 Syria.
14:06 Taiwan.
14:11 Tajikistan.
14:16 Tanzania.
14:21 Thailand.
14:26 Togo.
14:31 Tonga.
14:36 Trinidad and Tobago.
14:41 Tunisia.
14:46 Turkey.
14:51 Turkmenistan.
14:56 Tuvalu.
15:01 Uganda.
15:06 Ukraine.
15:11 United Arab Emirates.
15:16 United Kingdom.
15:21 United States.
15:26 Uruguay.
15:31 Uzbekistan.
15:36 Vanuatu.
15:41 Vatican City.
15:46 Venezuela.
15:51 Vietnam.
15:56 Yemen.
16:01 Zambia.
16:04 Zimbabwe.

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Jewelry designs inspired by mathematical objects called strange attractors bring chaos theory to a new audience.

Researchers have captured the signal of neutrinos from a nuclear reactor using a water-filled neutrino detector, a first for such a device.

In a mine in Sudbury, Canada, the SNO+ detector is being readied to search for a so-far-undetected nuclear-decay process. Spotting this rare decay would allow researchers to confirm that the neutrino is its own antiparticle (see Viewpoint: Probing Majorana Neutrinos). But while SNO+ team members prepare for that search, they have made another breakthrough by capturing the interaction with water of antineutrinos from nuclear reactors [1]. The finding offers the possibility of making neutrino detectors from a nontoxic material that is easy to handle and inexpensive to obtain, key factors for use of the technology in auditing the world’s nuclear reactors (see Feature: Neutrino Detectors for National Security).

The SNO+ detector was inherited from the earlier Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment. Today the detector is filled with a liquid that lights up when charged particles pass through it. But in 2018, to calibrate the detector’s components and to characterize its intrinsic radioactive background signal after the experiment’s upgrade, it contained water. The antineutrino signal was observed when, after completing those measurements, the researchers took the opportunity to carry out additional experiments before the liquid was switched out.

Simulations and an experiment aboard the International Space Station show that changes in the system’s repulsive forces are behind the alignment of particles embedded in an electrified plasma.