Lifeboat Foundation

A magnetic field can significantly boost the performance of a large-scale fusion experiment that may lead to a future source of clean power.

Nuclear fusion could provide a clean power source, but one of the technological challenges is maintaining the fuel at a high enough temperature for a long enough time. In a technique called inertial confinement fusion (ICF)—where lasers initiate the nuclear reaction—a magnetic field has been shown to improve heating. Now researchers have shown that a magnetic field can also help in a large-scale experiment with a more complicated design that produces far more energy [1]. The applied field increased the fuel’s temperature by 40% and tripled the fusion reaction’s efficiency. The work provides a step toward increasing the robustness and energy output of the fusion reaction and provides the first proof of concept of magnetization-assisted fusion in a large-scale experiment.

In the simplest version of ICF, synchronized laser pulses hit a capsule filled with cold hydrogen fuel, causing it to implode. The implosion heats the fuel and creates a spot of burning plasma (see Viewpoint: Fusion Turns Up the Heat). The “hot spot” serves as a spark that initiates burning throughout the fuel, driving a self-sustaining fusion reaction that releases energy. However, these implosions can fail to generate significant fusion energy if the fuel pellet has small imperfections on its surface or if the lasers are not perfectly timed. But if the fuel could be heated to temperatures higher than was possible in recent experiments, there would be more margin for error, which could alleviate the sensitivity to such details.

The observation of the onset of turbulence in a gas of bosons allows researchers to explore how turbulence comes to life.

Despite over a century of trying, physicists have yet to develop a complete theory of turbulence—the complex, chaotic motion of a fluid. Now Maciej Gałka of the University of Cambridge and colleagues have taken a step in that direction by witnessing the onset of turbulence in a quantum gas and observing its evolution over roughly 100 ms [1]. The finding could help scientists answer open questions in turbulence, which is observed in systems ranging from ocean waves to star interiors.

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An analogue of a tiny, expanding universe has been created out of extremely cold potassium atoms. It could be used to help us understand cosmic phenomena that are exceedingly difficult to directly detect, such as pairs of particles that may be created out of empty space as the universe expands.

Markus Oberthaler at Heidelberg University in Germany and his colleagues cooled more than 20,000 potassium atoms in a vacuum, using lasers to slow them down and lower their temperature to about 60 nanokelvin, or 60 billionths of a degree kelvin above absolute zero.

At this temperature, the atoms formed a cloud about the width of a human hair and, instead of freezing, they became a quantum, fluid-like phase of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate. Atoms in this phase can be controlled by shining light on them – using a tiny projector, the researchers precisely set the atoms’ density, arrangement in space and the forces they exert on each other.

A Full Moon could cut into some viewing opportunities, but the peak still could bring some bright fireballs.

Elon Musk doesn’t follow the same standards that most entrepreneurs do. He’s different, he likes to be different!

And when you’re different, and you’re not afraid to be, it’s okay to test a cigar (or should I say ‘joint’?) of tobacco mixed with marijuana, on Joe Rogan’s famous podcast. But if you look closely, Elon was just nice (polite) and followed Rogan’s elaborate script. Before trying it, Musk even asked him if it was legal.

Then all those facial expressions of Musk, which photojournalists love to catch, go viral as if he’s there promoting some soft drug or passing abroad that his office at Tesla (or SpaceX) is enveloped in a large cloud of smoke.

Quite the opposite. The expressions themselves spoke for themselves, as if to say, “This is nothing special, Joe. Why do you waste my time with these scenes”? Musk even claimed that weed is not good for productivity at all, but it has nothing against (as I do, by the way).

Continue reading “From ‘Chief Twit’ to ‘Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator’” »

It holds an enigmatic result regarding connectivity between the hippocampus and other parts of the brain.

Researchers have created the most detailed map ever made of the human brain — specifically the communication links between the hippocampus. This part of the brain is the section that controls memory, particularly long-term and short-term memory, along with spatial memory, a type of memory that allows for the recollection of location. The research team consisted of scientists from the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Center in Australia.

“What we’ve created is a highly detailed map of white matter pathways connecting the hippocampus with the rest of the brain. It’s essentially a roadmap of brain regions that directly connect with the hippocampus and support its important role in memory formation,” said Dr. Marshall Dalton, a research fellow in the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney.

The magnetic material emulates learning that occurs in the brain during deep sleep.

Researchers have developed a material that can replicate the way the brain stores information. The material works by copying the synapses of neurons, allowing it to mimic learning that occurs during deep sleep. The team of researchers, from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), built the magnetic material using a type of computation called neuromorphic computing.

Neuromorphic computing is a computing concept that uses artificial neurons to mimic behavior of the brain and the synaptic functions, or communication signals, of neurons.

Continue reading “A material has been created that imitates how the brain stores information” »

All they need is electrical stimulation, and once activated, they re-establish the lost connection between different regions of the spinal cord.

Imagine you are stuck inside a room, you want to get out, but your body is not moving. No matter how hard you try, you are unable to move your body parts. You are not even able to move your finger, how would you feel? Well, that’s what chronic paralysis feels like.

Unfortunately, there is no known permanent cure for this neurological disorder, and this is what makes the situation worse. The physical and mental struggle that a patient with chronic paralysis goes through is unimaginable.

Continue reading “Weird magic neurons in the spine can make people with paralysis walk again” »