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While working with helium nanodroplets, scientists at the Department of Ion Physics and Applied Physics led by Fabio Zappa and Paul Scheier have come across a surprising phenomenon: When the ultracold droplets hit a hard surface, they behave like drops of water. Ions with which they were previously doped thus remain protected on impact and are not neutralized.

At the Department of Ion Physics and Applied Physics, Paul Scheier’s research group has been using nanodroplets to study ions with methods of mass spectrometry for around 15 years. Using a supersonic nozzle, tiny, superfluid helium nanodroplets can be produced with temperatures of less than one degree Kelvin. They can very effectively be doped with atoms and molecules. In the case of ionized droplets, the particles of interest are attached to the charges, which are then measured in the mass spectrometer. During their experiments, the scientists have now stumbled upon an interesting phenomenon that has fundamentally changed their work. “For us, this was a gamechanger,” says Fabio Zappa from the nano-bio-physics team. “Everything at our lab is now done with this newly discovered method.” The researchers have now published the results of their studies in Physical Review Letters.

Dec 29 (Reuters) — Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has raised $337.4 million in equity financing, the rocket company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

SpaceX, which counts Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Fidelity Investments among its investors, hit $100 billion in valuation following a secondary share sale in October, according to CNBC. It had raised about $1.16 billion in equity financing in April.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Reuters request for more details on the latest funding round.

After a successful launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Dec. 25, and completion of two mid-course correction maneuvers, the Webb team has analyzed its initial trajectory and determined the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations in orbit for significantly more than a 10-year science lifetime. (The minimum baseline for the mission is five years.)

More wind power capacity was installed in the US than any other generating technology in both 2019 and 2020, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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Annual US wind turbine capacity additions set a record in 2020, totaling 14.2 gigawatts (GW) and surpassing the previous record of 13.2 GW added in 2012. After 2020’s record year for wind turbine capacity addition, total US wind turbine capacity is now 118 GW.

Since the commercialization of 5G network, there has been a rapid spread of this communication network. However, there are still critics who believe that there is no real need for 5G. Some of these critics believe that 4G LTE can do just what 5G can handle. However, this really depends on what the user does with the network. Have you used 5G network? How do you feel about the internet speed?