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READER QUESTION: My understanding is that nothing comes from nothing. For something to exist, there must be material or a component available, and for them to be available, there must be something else available. Now my question: Where did the material come from that created the Big Bang, and what happened in the first instance to create that material? Peter, 80, Australia.

“The last star will slowly cool and fade away. With its passing, the universe will become once more a void, without light or life or meaning.” So warned the physicist Brian Cox in the recent BBC series Universe. The fading of that last star will only be the beginning of an infinitely long, dark epoch. All matter will eventually be consumed by monstrous black holes, which in their turn will evaporate away into the dimmest glimmers of light. Space will expand ever outwards until even that dim light becomes too spread out to interact. Activity will cease.

Or will it? Strangely enough, some cosmologists believe a previous, cold dark empty universe like the one which lies in our far future could have been the source of our very own Big Bang.

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About the Bioprint FirstAid Handheld Bioprinter capabilities.

Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are testing 3D bioprinted bandages made of their own cells that could be used to better heal flesh wounds in space.

The German Space Agency (DLR) is leading the experiment which was launched to the ISS at the end of December 2021 on SpaceX’s 24th commercial resupply mission. The payload contained the BioPrint FirstAid Handheld Bioprinter, which is designed to hold cells from astronauts within a bioink that can be used to apply bandages to wounds when needed.

While the experiment offers a promising tool for wound healing in space environments, it could also provide significant benefits back on earth, too.

Continue reading “Astronauts test 3D bioprinted skin bandages in space” | >

Magnetic field information could provide earlier disaster warning to at-risk regions, potentially saving lives.

A new study finds the magnetic field generated by a tsunami can be detected a few minutes earlier than changes in sea level and could improve warnings of these giant waves.

Tsunamis generate magnetic fields as they move conductive seawater through the Earth’s magnetic field. Researchers previously predicted that the tsunami’s magnetic field would arrive before a change in sea level, but they lacked simultaneous measurements of magnetics and sea level that are necessary to demonstrate the phenomenon.

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See, when there is no hypocrisy of being an oil tycoon nation, talking to much in conferences about environmental incentives whilst having a double agenda which consists of slowing the trend down, or doing nothing while we get to 2030.

IT ACTUALLY WORKS

Turkey’s rapid shift to greener sources of energy has led to a sharp rise in its installed solar power over the last decade, with renewable investments expected to accelerate in the period ahead.

The aim to generate a larger share of power from renewable sources stems from the country’s goal of lowing its hefty energy bill, as it imports almost all of its energy needs from abroad.

Continue reading “Solar power excels in Turkey’s rapid shift to green energy sources” | >

Magnets and superconductors don’t normally get along, but a new study shows that ‘magic-angle’ graphene is capable of producing both superconductivity and ferromagnetism, which could be useful in quantum computing.

When two sheets of the carbon nanomaterial graphene are stacked together at a particular angle with respect to each other, it gives rise to some fascinating physics. For instance, when this so-called “magic-angle graphene” is cooled to near absolute zero 0, it suddenly becomes a superconductor, meaning it conducts electricity with zero resistance.

Now, a research team from Brown University has found a surprising new phenomenon that can arise in magic-angle graphene. In research published in the journal Science, the team showed that by inducing a phenomenon known as spin-orbit coupling, magic-angle graphene becomes a powerful ferromagnet.

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SciTechDaily.

Structure may reveal conditions needed for high-temperature superconductivity.

When two sheets of graphene are stacked atop each other at just the right angle, the layered structure morphs into an unconventional superconductor, allowing electric currents to pass through without resistance or wasted energy.

This “magic-angle” transformation in bilayer graphene was observed for the first time in 2018 in the group of Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT.

Continue reading “The Biggest Bang” — Physicists Create Tunable Superconductivity in Twisted Graphene “Nanosandwich” | >

Viruses can be wily adapters, changing their identities to find new hosts and thwart efforts to stop them. That’s why University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and their collaborators are making progress toward developing universal vaccines against some the planet’s most harmful pathogens, including the virus family responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last fall, the National Institutes of Health announced it was investing in three teams working to develop a vaccine that would simultaneously work against a broad range of coronaviruses. Among them is a research collaboration, the Pan-Coronavirus Vaccine consortium, led by UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine Professor of Pathobiological Sciences Yoshihiro Kawaoka.

“This pan-coronavirus vaccine is basically preparing for the future,” Kawaoka says.

If the world already had a pan-coronavirus vaccine in March 2020, it could have served as a mitigation tool until vaccines specific to SARS-CoV-2 could be developed.

Continue reading “UW–Madison researchers lead effort to create a universal coronavirus vaccine” | >

And it can balance perfectly on power lines.

Scientists at UC Berkeley developed an experimental drone called the Midair Reconfigurable Quadcopter. As the name implies, the drone can shape-shift in midair, a report from NewAtlas reveals.

The team, from UC Berkeley’s High Performance Robotics Laboratory (HiPeRLab), used passive unactuated hinges, meaning that no extra battery-sapping actuators or sensors are required. In other words, each of the hinges folds inwards when its rotor stops or goes in reverse, and outwards when the rotor is powered up.

The quadcopter is able to fold any two of its arms using this method and still maintain stable flight. That means the drone can shift into a number of different shapes. The researchers say that it could, for example, squeeze through a narrow opening, and its folded-down arms can also be used to grasp objects.

Continue reading “Scientists Have Created a Novel Drone That Shapeshifts Mid-Flight” | >

Musicians have been experimenting with artificial intelligence for a few years now. For example, in 2019, an AI trained on Schubert’s music completed his Unfinished Symphony and last October the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn performed an AI-generated version of Beethoven’s last symphony.

But what are the limits of AI music? Can an AI really be considered creative? And is it possible for an AI to improvise with musicians live on stage?

To find out, researchers from France, the USA and Japan are collaborating on a study to explore the role of AI in creativity, using a combination of machine learning and social science research. The project recently received funding from the European Research Council.

One part of the study involves teaching AI how to improvise, and find out if it can be used for example in live performance with (human) musicians.

Continue reading “Research Project Will Study How AI Can Be Used In Creative Collaboration” | >

‘Bringing archaeological perspectives to an active space domain’.

While most people naturally associate archaeology with ancient remains and treasured artifacts, one group of scientists is breaking that mold by kickstarting the first-ever archaeological project aboard the International Space Station (ISS), a press statement reveals.

It is the first time such a project has taken place aboard any space habitat and its aim is to catalog how humans adapt their living behaviors while in space for months at a time. As a point of reference, the longest stay aboard the ISS so far is NASA astronaut Christina Koch’s 328-day stay, which ended last year.

“We’re the first to try to understand how humans relate to the items they live with in space,” explained Associate Professor Justin Walsh of Chapman University in California, one of the study leads. “By bringing archaeological perspectives to an active space domain, we’re the first to show how people adapt their behavior to a completely new environment.”

Full Story:

Continue reading “The First Archaeological Space Experiment Is Happening Aboard the ISS” | >