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Nov 5, 2021

Two Firms Are Building Romania’s First Small Modular Nuclear Reactor

Posted by in category: nuclear energy

A new joint project between the U.S. and Romania will bring small modular reactors to Eastern Europe! In addition to SMR simulators to train students.

Nov 5, 2021

Study reports the ferroelectric switching of spin-to-charge conversion in germanium telluride

Posted by in categories: materials, particle physics

Spintronic devices, a class of architectures that can store or transfer information by leveraging the intrinsic spin of electrons, have been found to be highly promising, both in terms of speed and efficiency. So far, however, the development of these devices has been hindered by the poor compatibility between semiconducting materials and ferromagnetic sources of spin, which underpin their operation.

In fact, while some semiconductors can generate electrical currents from transverse spin currents and vice versa, reliably controlling this spin-charge conversion has so far proved to be highly challenging. In recent years, some material scientists and engineers have thus been investigating the potential of fabricating spintronic devices using ferroelectric Rashba semiconductors, a class of materials with several advantageous properties, such as semiconductivity, large spin-orbit coupling and non-volatility.

A team of researchers at Politecnico di Milano, University Grenoble Alpes and other institutes worldwide have recently demonstrated the non-volatile control of the spin-to-charge conversion in telluride, a known Rashba semiconductor, at room temperature. Their paper, published in Nature Electronics, could have important implications for the future development of spintronic devices.

Nov 5, 2021

Space Chat! A powerful solar storm disrupts Earth, SpaceX waits to launch and more

Posted by in categories: climatology, space travel

Today (Nov. 5), Space Chat will explore what’s new in space, including new climate science, SpaceX’s new astronaut launch and a seriously powerful solar storm.

Every Friday at 1 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), Chelsea Gohd hosts Space Chat, which you can find live on Space.com’s VideoFromSpace YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages. Every week, the series explores a new space-tastic topic, spanning from Earth to the universe and far, far beyond.

Nov 5, 2021

Scientists Discover a Novel Therapeutic Target To Treat Fatty Liver Disease

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

About 80 million Americans have fatty liver disease unrelated to alcohol abuse. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with obesity and diabetes, and can lead to more severe liver damage such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis and liver cancer. Cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer and breast cancer actually are the major causes of death in patients with fatty liver disease.

Several drugs in advanced stages of development have failed because of the complexity of the disease, low efficacy, or the toxicity of drugs. Although several clinical trials were conducted in past decades, currently there is no FDA-approved pharmaceutical therapy for NASH.

To understand the complexity of the progression of fatty liver disease, a team of USC.

Nov 5, 2021

Plans Of A Technocratic Elite: ‘The Great Reset’ Is Not A Conspiracy Theory

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, genetics, information science, internet, nanotechnology, quantum physics, Ray Kurzweil, robotics/AI, singularity, transhumanism

According to Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the 4-IR follows the first, second, and third Industrial Revolutions—the mechanical, electrical, and digital, respectively. The 4-IR builds on the digital revolution, but Schwab sees the 4-IR as an exponential takeoff and convergence of existing and emerging fields, including Big Data; artificial intelligence; machine learning; quantum computing; and genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. The consequence is the merging of the physical, digital, and biological worlds. The blurring of these categories ultimately challenges the very ontologies by which we understand ourselves and the world, including “what it means to be human.”

The specific applications that make up the 4-R are too numerous and sundry to treat in full, but they include a ubiquitous internet, the internet of things, the internet of bodies, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and more.

While Schwab and the WEF promote a particular vision for the 4-IR, the developments he announces are not his brainchildren, and there is nothing original about his formulations. Transhumanists and Singularitarians (or prophets of the technological singularity), such as Ray Kurzweil and many others, forecasted these and more revolutionary developments,. long before Schwab heralded them. The significance of Schwab and the WEF’s take on the new technological revolution is the attempt to harness it to a particular end, presumably “a fairer, greener future.”

Nov 5, 2021

Yes, you can see sounds — it’s called cymatics

Posted by in category: futurism

If the alcohol percentage in the glass allows it, let us look at what happens inside the glass. A slight, constant rubbing of the rim can cause a pretty big storm. Droplets detach from the smooth surface of the drink and rhythmically bob up and down, while the troubled waves bounce off the see-through sides. The whole show creates dynamic forms and shapes that depend on the frequency of the sound, which is sensitive to the smallest caress of the fingertip. Stories about rubbing genie lamps only gained academic interest in the 1970s. The field of research that studies the shape of sound waves became known as However, sound waves and the effect they have on matter had become an object of fascination long before that.

When glasses were clinking at the Philadelphia Convention in 1,787 to celebrate the signing of the Constitution, 6,505 kilometres away in the town of Lipsk amateurs of various scientific curiosities were avidly reading Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges (Discoveries in the Theory of Sound), written by Ernst Chladni, a lawyer, geologist, inventor, designer and acoustician. This exemplary son of a law professor graduated in the same field of study as his father, on Dad’s orders. Nevertheless, the heir dreamed of a different future. He waited for his father to pass on, then abandoned paragraphs in favour of his fantasies – sound experiments – without remorse. Admittedly, it was too late to go for the career of a musician, but the young man’s proclivity for performing slowly became more and more apparent. Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni was sucked into a whirlwind of soundwaves for good. He toured all over Europe, amazing his audiences (and Napoleon himself) with various sound shows and instruments of his own making. His signature moves must have inspired the jealousy of local illusionists. Chladni proved that sound can be seen, and developed his own technique of visualizing vibrations on a metal plate. He produced images that were never dreamed of, even in philosophy.

Nov 5, 2021

Physicists Discover How DNA Molecules Self-Assemble: Laws of Nature Harnessed To Create “Smart Materials”

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A team of physicists has discovered how DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Nov 5, 2021

The Intel 12th Gen Core i9-12900K Review: Hybrid Performance Brings Hybrid Complexity

Posted by in category: energy

Today marks the official retail availability of Intel’s 12th Generation Core processors, starting with the overclockable versions this side of the New Year, and the rest in 2022. These new processors are the first widescale launch of a hybrid processor design for mainstream Windows-based desktops using the underlying x86 architecture: Intel has created two types of core, a performance core and an efficiency core, to work together and provide the best of performance and low power in a singular package. This hybrid design and new platform however has a number of rocks in the river to navigate: adapting Windows 10 Windows 11 and all sorts of software to work properly, but also introduction of DDR5 at a time when DDR5 is still not widely available. There are so many potential pitfalls for this product, and we’re testing the flagship Core i9-12900K in a few key areas to see how it tackles them.

Let’s Talk Processors

Since August, Intel has been talking about the design of its 12th Generation Core processor family, also known as Alder Lake. We’ve already detailed over 16,000 words on the topic, covering the fundamentals of each new core, how Intel has worked with Microsoft to improve Windows performance with the new design, as features like DDR5, chipsets, and overclocking. We’ll briefly cover the highlights here, but these two articles are worth the read for those that want to know.

Nov 5, 2021

Samsung invests in DigiLens XR glasses firm at valuation over $500M

Posted by in categories: augmented reality, electronics

DigiLens has raised funding from Samsung Electronics in a round that values the augmented reality smart glasses makers at more than $500 million.

Sunnyvale, California-based DigiLens did not say the exact amount it raised for the development of its extended reality glasses (XR), which will offer AR features, such as overlaying digital images on what you see.

DigiLens CEO Chris Pickett said in a previous interview with VentureBeat that the latest smart glasses are more advanced than models the company showed in 2019.

Nov 5, 2021

Microsoft says all business will be collaborative, and infused with data and AI

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

Data derived from the interactions between people should allow the organization to refine business processes, Microsoft said at Ignite 2021.