Lifeboat Foundation

Ever wonder what happens when you fall into a black hole? Now, thanks to a new, immersive visualization produced on a NASA supercomputer, viewers can plunge into the event horizon, a black hole’s point of no return.

In this visualization of a flight toward a supermassive black hole, labels highlight many of the fascinating features produced by the effects of general relativity along the way. Produced on a NASA supercomputer, the simulation tracks a camera as it approaches, briefly orbits, and then crosses the event horizon — the point of no return — of a monster black hole much like the one at the center of our galaxy. (Video: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/J. Schnittman and B. Powell)

“People often ask about this, and simulating these difficult-to-imagine processes helps me connect the mathematics of relativity to actual consequences in the real universe,” said Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who created the visualizations. “So I simulated two different scenarios, one where a camera — a stand-in for a daring astronaut — just misses the event horizon and slingshots back out, and one where it crosses the boundary, sealing its fate.”

Perovskites are among the most researched topics in materials science. Recently, a research team led by Prof. LOH Kian Ping, Chair Professor of Materials Physics and Chemistry and Global STEM Professor of the Department of Applied Physics of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Dr Kathy LENG, Assistant Professor of the same department, together with Dr Hwa Seob CHOI, Postdoctoral Research Fellow and the first author of the research paper, has solved an age-old challenge to synthesise all-organic two-dimensional perovskites, extending the field into the exciting realm of materials. This breakthrough opens up a new field of 2D all-organic perovskites, which holds promise for both fundamental science and potential applications.

This research was published in the journal Science (“Molecularly thin, two-dimensional all-organic perovskites”).

Perovskites are named after their structural resemblance to the mineral calcium titanate perovskite, and are well known for their fascinating properties that can be applied in wide-ranging fields such as solar cells, lighting and catalysis. With a fundamental chemical formula of ABX 3, perovskites possess the ability to be finely tuned by adjusting the A and B cations as well as the X anion, paving the way for the development of high-performance materials.

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We often look out into the galaxy and wonder where all the civilizations are, but could it be that we don’t see them because they have all chosen to exist in fortress star systems, surrounded by despoiled deserts of their own making?

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Continue reading “The Fermi Paradox: Interdiction” »

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A new paper suggests diminishing returns from larger and larger generative AI models. Dr Mike Pound discusses.

The Paper (No \

An algorithm can monitor the health of retired vehicle batteries used to store surplus power fed into the electrical grid.

Microsoft has given a customized version of ChatGPT-4 to United States intelligence agencies, and it has one big differentiating feature.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson says developers have a ‘real hunger’ for generative AI, so expect the next Battlefield to include some form of AI.

Inspired by the tetromino shapes in the classic video game Tetris, researchers in the US have designed a simple radiation detector that can monitor radioactive sources both safely and efficiently. Created by Mingda Li and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the device employs a machine learning algorithm to process data, allowing it to build up accurate maps of sources using just four detector pixels.

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Wherever there is a risk of radioactive materials leaking into the environment, it is critical for site managers to map out radiation sources as accurately as possible.

Futurists, including some medical doctors, are signing up to be decapitated—and then have their brains frozen. But without a body, what will their minds become?