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Jan 1, 2022

Elon Musk’s Banner Year: Milestones on Earth and in Space

Posted by in categories: economics, Elon Musk, internet, space, sustainability

This year, billionaire CEO Elon Musk reached several milestones across Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink. WSJ reporters Rebecca Elliott and Micah Maidenberg break down some of his biggest moments in 2021 and what’s to come in 2022. Illustration: Tom Grillo.

In-Depth Features.

A global look at the economic and cultural forces shaping our world.

Jan 1, 2022

High-Fidelity Qubit Readout Using Interferometric Directional Josephson Devices

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

An on-chip superconducting isolator that does not rely on magnetic materials to break reciprocity is implemented, providing 45 dB of isolation at the qubit readout frequency.

Jan 1, 2022

Science Made Simple: What Are High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas?

Posted by in categories: particle physics, science

High energy density (HED) laboratory plasmas are perhaps the most extreme states of matter ever produced on Earth. Normal plasmas are one of the four basic states of matter, along with solid, gases, and liquids. But HED plasmas have properties not found in normal plasmas under ordinary conditions. For example, matter in this state may simultaneously behave as a solid and a gas. In this state, materials that normally act as insulators for electrical charges instead become conductive metals. To create and study HED plasmas, scientists compress materials in solid or liquid form or bombard them with high energy particles or photons.

Jan 1, 2022

Newfound black hole may be the closest to Earth

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Dubbed the “unicorn,” the odd object is also among the smallest black holes ever found, and it may help solve an enduring mystery in astrophysics.

Jan 1, 2022

A Brief History of the Multi-Core Desktop CPU

Posted by in categories: computing, space travel

It’s hard to overemphasize how far computers have come and how they have transformed just about every aspect of our lives. From rudimentary devices like toasters to cutting-edge devices like spacecrafts, you’ll be hard pressed not to find these devices making use of some form of computing capability.

Jan 1, 2022

Intel Is Bringing A Feature Upgrade To Linux That Will Make Windows Users Jealous

Posted by in category: computing

Update the UEFI on a server without rebooting? Yes, please.

Jan 1, 2022

Voyant raises $15M to scale production of its tiny, inexpensive lidar tech

Posted by in categories: futurism, transportation

The future of lidar is uncertain unless, as Voyant hopes to do, its price and size are reduced to fractions of their current values. As long as lidars are sandwich-sized devices that cost thousands, they won’t be ubiquitous — so Voyant has raised some cash to bring its smaller, cheaper, more easily manufactured, yet still highly capable lidar to production.

When I wrote up the company’s seed round back in 2019, the goal was more or less to shrink lidar down from sandwich to fingernail size using silicon photonics. But the real challenge faced by nearly every lidar company is getting the price down. Between a strong laser, capable receptor and a mechanical or optical means of directing the beam, it just isn’t easy making something cheap enough that, like an LED or touchscreen, you can easily put several of them in a vehicle that costs less than $30,000.

CEO Peter Stern joined the company just as COVID was getting started, and they were looking for a way to turn a promising prototype developed by co-founders Chris Phare and Steven Miller into a working and marketable product. After going back to basics they ended up with a photonics-based frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) system (just go with it for now) that could be manufactured at existing commercial fabs.

Jan 1, 2022

Alzheimer’s Risk Gene May Impair Neuroprotective Mechanism

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, education, genetics, neuroscience

Our bodies have some healing and regenerative capabilities. For most of us, cuts will mend, we’ll recover from mild infections, and at the cellular level, | Genetics And Genomics.


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Jan 1, 2022

Government data breach in Rhode Island leads to AG investigation

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, government

The transit authority (RIPTA) was hacked. Now the ACLU is questioning why thousands of people with no relationship to RIPTA had their personal information leaked.

Jan 1, 2022

A four-legged soft robot that doesn’t need any electronics to work

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

A team of engineers from the University of California San Diego has unveiled a prototype four-legged soft robot that doesn’t need any electronics to work. The robot only needs a constant source of pressurized air for all its functions, including its controls and locomotion systems.

Most soft robots are powered by pressurized air and are controlled by electronic circuits. This approach works, but it requires complex components, like valves and pumps driven by actuators, which do not always fit inside the robot’s body.

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