Lifeboat Foundation

A flipping action in a porous material facilitates the passage of normal water to separate it out from heavy water.

A research group led by Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University’s Institute for Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Japan and Cheng Gu of South China University of Technology, China have made a material that can effectively separate heavy water from normal water at room temperature. Until now, this process has been very difficult and energy intensive. The findings have implications for industrial – and even biological – processes that involve using different forms of the same molecule. The scientists reported their results in the journal Nature.

Isotopologues are molecules that have the same chemical formula and whose atoms bond in similar arrangements, but at least one of their atoms has a different number of neutrons than the parent molecule. For example, a water molecule (H₂O) is formed of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. The nucleus of each of the hydrogen atoms contains one proton and no neutrons. In heavy water (D₂O), on the other hand, the deuterium (D) atoms are hydrogen isotopes with nuclei containing one proton and one neutron. Heavy water has applications in nuclear reactors, medical imaging, and in biological investigations.

At some point in its history, ESO 415–19 had a close encounter with another galaxy, and it’s never been the same since. The gravity from that passing galaxy drew parts of ESO 415–19 outward into long, curving streams of stars and dust — and then the other galaxy moved on, leaving ESO 415–19 with its arms still stretching out into space.

Astronomers call these bizarrely long arms tidal streams, and they’re what earned ESO 415–19 its coveted place in the Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, a catalog of 338 of the weirdest galaxies in the known universe.

In 2022 a new space telescope, a mission to bash an asteroid, fusion ignition, and the first small modular reactor design approved.

A remarkable discovery in a Siberian cave confirmed scientists’ belief that more than 50,000 years ago, interbreeding among the ancient human species might have been common.

A bone fragment discovered by researchers has been analyzed, and the conclusion based on DNA extraction is that it’s a female whose mother was a Neanderthal and father was a Denisovan.

Following established guidelines about prescription drugs would seem to be an obvious course of action, especially for the professionals that do the prescribing. Yet doctors and their family members are less likely than other people to comply with those guidelines, according to a large-scale study co-authored by an MIT economist.

Depending on your perspective, that result might seem surprising or it might produce a knowing nod. Either way, the result is contrary to past scholarly hypotheses. Many experts have surmised that knowing more, and having easier communication with medical providers, leads patients to follow instructions more closely.

The bendable 45-inch Xeneon Flex PC monitor lets you take literally take matters into your own hands if you want a curved display.

Claiming 3rd place, we look at how a zero-electricity cooling system could meet the world’s growing AC needs.

The fact that as the Earth warms, the technology needed by humans to stay cool will only make the environment hotter is one of the great ironies of climate change.

Here’s where a novel device unveiled by MIT researchers in October comes in.

Continue reading “MIT’s zero-electricity cooling system could tackle the hottest regions of the world” »

At number 4 on IE’s list of 22 best innovations is ChatGPT, an AI-powered Chatbot that gained over 1 million registered users in just 5 days after release.

The year 2022 saw a host of brilliant inventions, ranging from the James Webb Space Telescope, the HIV vaccine, and DALL-E, to transparent solar windows. But just when we thought the year had seen its fair share of excellence and innovation, ChatGPT caught us by surprise.

Developed by the OpenAI foundation, an independent research body founded by Elon Musk, the Artificial Intelligence-powered chatbot released on November 30, is everything mind-blowing, bizarre, and daunting. The San Francisco-based company is also responsible for the breakthrough image generator DALL-E 2.

Thanks to a novel technique, scientists are now a step closer to solving a key mystery about the origins of solar wind.

Researchers have discovered web-like plasma structures in the Sun’s middle corona, according to a recent study published in Nature Astronomy.

Continue reading “Researchers could observe the middle corona of the sun in a world first” »