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Aug 8, 2022

10 Finance Firms Effectively Own Half of All Future Carbon Emissions

Posted by in categories: energy, finance

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An analysis of the 200 largest fossil fuel companies suggests that just 10 shareholders could influence the fate of nearly half of the world’s remaining fossil fuels.

Aug 8, 2022

Multiplanet Seminar: Venus Cloud Particle Sample Return Mission

Posted by in categories: engineering, particle physics, space

Thu, Aug 11 at 6 PM CDT.


Join our 60min Seminar with Sara Seager, PhD to learn about design, engineering, and upcoming mission of high altitude balloon to sample cloud particles from Venetian atmosphere!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/multiplanet-seminar-venus-cloud…3644460177

Aug 8, 2022

New simulations zoom in on planets swallowed by their stars

Posted by in categories: food, life extension

You’ve likely heard the story by now: As the Sun grows old, it will swell up into a red giant. And as it expands, it will certainly swallow Mercury and Venus — and potentially Earth and even Mars — along the way.

This process, called planetary engulfment, is likely common across the galaxy, as aging stars eat up their own planets (and even companion stars or brown dwarfs). But astronomers still don’t understand exactly what happens to an unlucky planet that suddenly finds itself inside its parent star. Now, complex models called hydrodynamical simulations are shedding some light on the phenomenon, showing that factors such as a planet’s mass and the age of its star when it’s engulfed can have profound effects on what happens as the world is overtaken.

Aug 8, 2022

Are We Ready for the Next Big Solar Storm?

Posted by in categories: energy, existential risks, satellites

The biggest geomagnetic storm in recorded history happened more than 150 years ago. Now, we’re entering yet another period of solar maximum.


It was just another September night in 1,859 when Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson witnessed a remarkable event. The British astronomers weren’t together, but both happened to be peering at the Sun through telescopes at the precise moment that a massive ejection spewed from the fiery star. Within a few days, others on Earth noticed colorful aurora streaking across the skies and telegraph lines — the advanced technology of the day in Europe and North America — erupting in sparks.

The solar flare came to be known as the Carrington Event, named after one of the two astronomers who first described it. Despite occurring more than 150 years ago, it still stands as the strongest known geomagnetic storm (though we lack measurements to say precisely how big it was).

Continue reading “Are We Ready for the Next Big Solar Storm?” »

Aug 8, 2022

JWST has released a striking new image of the strange Cartwheel galaxy

Posted by in category: space

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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has taken a picture of one of the strangest galaxies in the universe. The details of the Cartwheel galaxy are obscured by dust, which has made studying it difficult, but the new images from JWST peer through to reveal this weird galaxy in more detail than ever before.

The Cartwheel galaxy is about 500 million light years away and measures about 150,000 light years across. Researchers believe that it was most likely a spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way before one of its companion galaxies blasted through it like a bullet through a target, sending waves of stars and gas rippling out from the galaxy’s centre and creating the nested ring shapes that we see today.

Continue reading “JWST has released a striking new image of the strange Cartwheel galaxy” »

Aug 8, 2022

Transfusing blood from an old mouse to a younger mouse causes ageing

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

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Transfusing young mice with blood from older rodents quickly triggers ageing, suggesting that cellular ageing isn’t just a case of wear and tear.

There is a longstanding hypothesis that surgically connecting an old mouse with a young rodent causes a transfer of blood that de-ages the older animal. While this benefits the older mouse, the effects on the young donor rodent were less clear.

Continue reading “Transfusing blood from an old mouse to a younger mouse causes ageing” »

Aug 8, 2022

Baidu bags China’s first fully driverless robotaxi licenses

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

China search engine giant Baidu Inc said on Monday it has obtained permits to operate fully driverless robotaxi services on open roads from two Chinese cities, the first of their kind in the country.


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Aug 7, 2022

Contactless Building Construction Could Happen With This New Levitation Device

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, habitats

In a world where 3D printing is being applied to everything from houses to rockets to guns 0, the question comes up as to where manufacturing might be headed next.

A new device, called LeviPrint, adds a unique feature to the manufacturing process: acoustic levitation. By trapping small objects in high frequency sound waves, LeviPrint can be used to build a variety of different structures without touching any of the pieces.

In a video released by researchers from Spain’s Universidad Publica de Navarra, or UPNA, LeviPrint can be seen building a variety of different things, including a bridge, a hoop made out of liquid glue droplets and a cat’s ears.

Aug 7, 2022

Transhumanists want to upload their minds to a computer. They really won’t like the result

Posted by in categories: computing, life extension, transhumanism

Uploading your mind is not a pathway to immortality. Instead, it will create a possibly hostile digital doppelgänger.

Aug 7, 2022

China’s AI-driven power grid can recover from a blackout in 3 seconds

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

State company tested how artificial intelligence could minimise electricity disruptions and now looks to expand the technology.