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A protoplanetary disk is a disk of dense gas and dust, orbiting a newly formed star. It is assumed that planets are born by the gradual accumulation of material in such a structure, therefore discoveries and studies of protoplanetary disks are essential for improving our understanding of planetary formation processes.

Now, a team of astronomers led by Ciprian T. Berghea of the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) in Washington, DC, has discovered a new disk of this type that is associated with an infrared source known as IRAS 23077+6707. The finding was made by inspecting the Pan-STARRS data while working on a variability study of active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates.

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A new study by researchers at University of Limerick in Ireland has revealed a sustainable method of efficiently converting waste heat into electricity using Irish wood products, while minimizing costs and environmental impact.

The study, led by researchers at UL in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Valencia, has demonstrated a method of generating electricity using low-grade heat recovered from lignin-derived membranes.

Lignin, typically overlooked, is a sustainable byproduct derived from wood in paper and pulp production. The study shows that these membranes can convert waste heat into electricity by utilizing the movement of charged atoms (ions) within the material.

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Bricklaying robots are not looking to steal jobs but fill a labor shortage.

Imagine being a bricklayer.

How much does the bricklaying robot cost?

Monumental’s robots are much more affordable than conventional ones, costing only $25,000 per unit. But Monumental does not sell its robots; it sells its brick-laying services. It charges by the brick, just like human masons in Europe, and at a similar rate.

It also provides a human mason to supervise the robots and handle the tasks they cannot do. However, Monumental’s bricklaying robots can work faster than humans by forming swarms, which is not feasible with the human labor shortage.

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Google’s Gemini implementation for AI image generation is facing a lot of criticism. But that isn’t stopping the search and mobile giant from riding the AI wave and rolling it out to more of its services. Today, Google announced a new set of features for phones, cars, and wearables — using Gemini to craft messages, AI-generated captions for images, summarizing texts through AI for Android Auto, along with access to passes on Wear OS.

The new features were unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona — an event where Google, as the company behind Android, has figured strongly for years.

The company said that starting this week, Google Messages will get a feature that lets you access Gemini in the app. The feature is currently in beta and only supports English.

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