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Lightspeed is the fastest velocity in the universe. Except when it isn’t. Anyone who’s seen a prism split white light into a rainbow has witnessed how material properties can influence the behavior of quantum objects: in this case, the speed at which light propagates.

Electrons also behave differently in materials than they do in , and understanding how is critical for scientists studying and engineers looking to develop new technologies. “An electron’s wave nature is very particular. And if you want to design devices in the future that take advantage of this quantum mechanical nature, you need to know those wavefunctions really well,” explained co-author Joe Costello, a UC Santa Barbara graduate student in condensed matter physics.

In a new paper, co-lead authors Costello, Seamus O’Hara and Qile Wu and their collaborators developed a method to calculate this wave nature, called a Bloch wavefunction, from physical measurements. “This is the first time that there’s been experimental reconstruction of a Bloch wavefunction,” said senior author Mark Sherwin, a professor of condensed matter physics at UC Santa Barbara. The team’s findings appear in the journal Nature, coming out more than 90 years after Felix Bloch first described the behavior of electrons in crystalline solids.

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The Chinese economy has been hit by a perfect storm. In the third quarter of the ongoing financial year, official Chinese data revealed that GDP growth stood at 4.9 percent, down from 7.9 percent in the previous quarter. This decline in GDP growth is directly eating into profits of big Chinese companies.

Rising prices and low consumer spending create a perfect storm in the Chinese economy:

There are two broad factors that are affecting business earnings in China-raw material inflation and low consumer spending.

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The year is 1,972 the final Apollo mission to the moon has just been completed and President Nixon has announced a new American Spacecraft. “This is the largest spacecraft ever launched by man, the first winged spaceship” “The world’s first reusable spacecraft” The Space Shuttle.

Capable of carrying several astronauts as well as large satellites into Earth’s orbit. This new idea for a reusable spacecraft was meant to drastically reduce the cost of getting into orbit, and although the Space Shuttle did complete hundreds of successful missions, it never really lived up to everything it promised to be.

Today, we have SpaceX making another attempt to cut the cost of getting into space. But what are they doing differently? How do we know the BFR won’t become another Space Shuttle?

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Professor Stefan Lorenz Sorgner talks about his new book, ‘We Have Always Been Cyborgs’. Find out more about the book: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/we-have-always-been-cyborgs.

“With an encyclopaedic knowledge of transhumanism and a deep philosophical grounding, especially in Nietzschean thought, Stefan Sorgner tackles some of the most challenging ethical issues currently discussed, including gene editing, digital data collection, and life extension, with uncommon good sense and incisive conclusions. This study is one of the most detailed and comprehensive analyses available today. Highly recommended for anyone interested in transhumanist/posthumanist ideas and in these issues generally.” N. Katherine Hayles, University of California, Los Angeles.

“An eye-opening, wide-ranging and all-inclusive study of transhumanism. Sorgner’s account avoids both the utopian trap and the bogeyman spectre. He makes a compelling case for placing ourselves on the transhuman spectrum. How we continue to use technologies is in our hands. Sorgner’s book is both a comprehensive introduction to transhumanist thought and a clear-sighted vision for its future realisation.” Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford.

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CEO Elon Musk posted an ancient Chinese poem on Weibo on Monday and this led his millions-strong followers on the social media platform to open up their wallets.

What Happened: Musk posted an 1800-year-old poem, called “The Quatrain of Seven Steps,” composed by Cao Zhi, the brother of the Emperor of Wei Cao Pi without any clear context.

Subsequently, Musk, who has 1.9 million followers on Weibo, began receiving donations from the users of the Chinese social media platform, reported CnEVPost.

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For people with motor impairments or physical disabilities, completing daily tasks and house chores can be incredibly challenging. Recent advancements in robotics, such as brain-controlled robotic limbs, have the potential to significantly improve their quality of life.

Researchers at Hebei University of Technology and other institutes in China have developed an innovative system for controlling robotic arms that is based on augmented reality (AR) and a . This system, presented in a paper published in the Journal of Neural Engineering, could enable the development of bionic or prosthetic arms that are easier for users to control.

“In recent years, with the development of robotic arms, brain science and information decoding technology, brain-controlled robotic arms have attained increasing achievements,” Zhiguo Luo, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. “However, disadvantages like poor flexibility restrict their widespread application. We aim to promote the lightweight and practicality of brain-controlled robotic arms.”

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Solar panel companies turn to silicon because it is efficient and lasts a long time. A single panel lasts for at least 25 years, providing more than 80% of its initial power.

Despite the benefits, crystalline silicon is difficult to produce, which slows down the solar panel manufacturing process. In the past year, the cost of silicon has skyrocketed, up to a 300% increase, and the U.S. banned imports from China (due to a violation of international standards on child labor) — making it the second most abundant element on the planet an actual scarcity.

Alternative semiconductors: Some companies are ditching silicon for, a cheaper alternative. If they can commercialize low-cost films, the solar industry would change dramatically.

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