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Materials For Space Elevators — From Carbon Nanotubes To Graphene And Beyond…

From carbon nanotubes to multi-layered graphene, we explore the revolutionary materials that could turn space elevators from sci-fi dreams into real-world infrastructure. Discover how these supermaterials might let us weave ribbons to the stars.

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Credits:
Materials For Space Elevators — From Carbon Nanotubes To Graphene And Beyond…
Episode 741; July 24, 2025
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Edited by:
Adrian Nixon.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator.
Chris Zabriskie, \

Photon-driven synapse advances low-power neuromorphic systems

Modern artificial intelligence systems rely on moving large amounts of data between memory and processors, a design that limits speed and increases energy use. The human brain works differently: it combines memory and computation within synapses, allowing fast, efficient learning and perception. Replicating this approach in hardware is a central goal of neuromorphic computing, especially for tasks like vision, where most real-world information is gathered and processed.

In that context, researchers have developed a new type of artificial synapse that operates entirely with light. Unlike most existing devices, which still depend on electrical signals at some stage, this system uses optical signals both to receive information and to update its internal state. Removing electrical conversion steps could lower energy use, reduce noise, and enable faster processing, particularly in vision systems that already rely on light.

As reported in Advanced Photonics, the device is built from a rare-earth-doped crystal that emits a persistent afterglow after being illuminated. This material can store optical information in the form of trapped charge carriers. When light excites the crystal, some of these carriers emit light immediately, while others remain trapped and are released later. The balance between these pathways depends on the history of illumination, allowing the material to mimic how biological synapses change strength based on past activity.

Toward cheaper, cleaner hydrogen production

Sobek was born and raised in Argentina, but he also grew up at MIT over the course of three degrees and more than a decade. He first studied aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, then jumped to mechanical engineering as a graduate student, then moved to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, where he worked under PhD advisors and MIT professors Martha Gray and Stephen Senturia. His thesis focused on a technique for quickly measuring optical properties of large numbers of biological cells.

“A lot of my learnings around microfabrication and materials chemistry ended up being really relevant for 1s1,” Sobek says. “A class that was very important to me was taught by Professor Amar Bose. I was a teaching assistant for him for a couple of semesters, and that had an incredible influence on my thinking.”

Following graduation, Sobek worked in microelectronics and microfluidics before founding his own company, Zymera, in 2004. The company developed deep-tissue imaging technology for detecting cancer and other serious diseases.

JWST finds a stellar bar in the early universe that breaks all rules

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered a stellar bar in GN20, a massive galaxy seen just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. The new paper was submitted to the preprint server arXiv on May 14.

Stellar bars are elongated arrangements of stars that cut across the center of a galaxy, rotating as a single rigid unit. As they spin, they act like a funnel and pull gas inward toward the galaxy’s nucleus, which can trigger intense star formation, feed the central black hole, and build up a dense core. In the nearby universe, bars are common. Even the Milky Way hosts one.

But formation of a stellar bar is thought to be slow, taking place over billions of years. Early galaxies were also significantly gas-rich, and gas was thought to suppress or delay bar formation. Therefore, when JWST discovered stellar bars within the first 2 billion years after the Big Bang, it challenged expectations from the standard model.

Irregular brain maturation in childhood predicts emotional habits in early adolescence

A new study reveals that the pace of a child’s brain maturation can predict whether they will tend to bottle up their emotions during their teenage years, offering new clues about the biological roots of adolescent mental health.

The quantum internet, explained

The quantum internet is a network of quantum computers that will someday send, compute, and receive information encoded in quantum states. The quantum internet will not replace the modern or “classical” internet; instead, it will provide new functionalities such as quantum cryptography and quantum cloud computing.

While the full implications of the quantum internet won’t be known for some time, several applications have been theorized and some, like quantum key distribution, are already in use.

It’s unclear when a full-scale global quantum internet will be deployed, but researchers estimate that interstate quantum networks will be established within the United States in the next 10 to 15 years.

Microcombs unlock 112Gbps wireless link at 560GHz for 6G

Researchers at Tokushima University have demonstrated single-channel wireless transmission at 112 Gbps in the 560 GHz band using soliton microcombs, marking a significant step toward next-generation 6G communications.

Conventional electronic technologies face fundamental limitations in generating stable high-frequency signals beyond 350 GHz, including reduced output power and increased phase noise. These challenges have hindered the realization of ultra-high-speed wireless communication in the terahertz regime, which is expected to play a key role in future 6G systems.

Microcomb system tackles key hurdles To overcome these challenges, the research team developed a microcomb-driven terahertz wireless communication system that combines fiber-coupled microcombs with high-order modulation techniques. The system leverages the high frequency stability and low phase noise of microcombs to generate a low-noise terahertz carrier.

Harvard Publishes a Longevity Report for the General Public

The report, titled “Pathways to Longevity”, introduces several important longevity concepts to the general reader and is another sign that the field is coming of age and entering the mainstream.

People do want to live longer

From time to time, Harvard Health Publishing issues Special Health Reports – consumer-facing, doctor-reviewed guides translating medical research for general readers. Previous reports included topics such as Alzheimer’s and heart disease. This new one, presented to the public earlier this week, is dedicated to healthy longevity. While this report, aimed mostly at curious laypeople and priced at $29, might not reveal a trove of new information to a longevity-savvy reader, it is an unmistakable sign that longevity science and the very idea of extending lifespan and healthspan are finally entering the mainstream.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Talks Scaling Laws, AI Arms Races, and Radical Abundance

This video features a conversation with Dario Amadei, CEO of Anthropic, discussing the intersection of AI and economics. Viewers will gain insights into how technological innovation impacts business processes and models, the future landscape of AI companies, and the potential societal ramifications of advancements in AI technology. The main theme emphasizes the evolving dynamics between innovation and established business strategies in the AI sector, as well as the importance of understanding how these changes affect both markets and society.

Solar-powered desalination system turns ocean water into drinking water, without waste

The United Nations estimates that 2.2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water, and communities from California to the Middle East rely on desalination plants to convert ocean water to fresh water. Common desalination techniques such as reverse osmosis and thermal distillation are energy-intensive, require pre- and post-water treatment, and leave behind a concentrated saltwater byproduct called brine that wreaks havoc on sea life when it’s deposited back into the ocean by raising the salt level and lowering oxygen in the water.

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