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Mar 31, 2021

Japan Becomes Latest Country to Issue Digital Vaccine Passport

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, government

Japan is becoming the latest country to issue digital vaccine passports, according to a report, allowing citizens to use proof of inoculation to travel internationally once again.

The digital passport will be available through a mobile app and will be linked to the government’s vaccination program, Japanese news outlet Nikkei Asia reported. Vaccinated citizens currently receive a certificate in paper format.

The passport is in talks to be added to an app that is expected to debut next month as a means to show negative test results.

Mar 31, 2021

64% of Farmland at Risk of Pesticide Pollution – Revealed in Global Map of Agricultural Land Across 168 Countries

Posted by in categories: food, health

“Our study has revealed 64 percent of the world’s arable land is at risk of pesticide pollution. This is important because the wider scientific literature has found that pesticide pollution can have adverse impacts on human health and the environment,” said Dr. Tang.


There is concern that overuse of pesticides will tip the balance, destabilize ecosystems and degrade the quality of water sources that humans and animals rely on to survive.

The future outlook

Continue reading “64% of Farmland at Risk of Pesticide Pollution – Revealed in Global Map of Agricultural Land Across 168 Countries” »

Mar 31, 2021

AMPK Cell Death

Posted by in category: health

Following on from the video last week all about mTOR, this week I have got one on AMPK. This is yet another protein that has an enzymatic role in the cellular energy systems that keeps us all alive and well, and it performs a natural balancing act with mTOR. As with all the systems in our body, a natural balance is essential for harmony, do we feast or fast, do we exercise hard or relax and meditate, do we sleep as many hours as possible or as few as we can get by on, should our body concentrate on growth or repair? It can all seem like a mine field, so it is often good to start with the essentials to make sure you have a good grasp of what they are, before you venture out of your depth. Hopefully this video will help shed some light these areas so you can find the right routine to help you strike a balance.

Mar 30, 2021

Silicon Valley leaders think A.I. will one day fund free cash handouts. But experts aren’t convinced

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says AI could pay for UBI, experts disagree.

Mar 30, 2021

‘We have your porn collection’: The rise of extortionware

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Cyber-security companies are warning about the rise of so-called ‘extortionware’ where hackers embarrass victims into paying a ransom.


Hacked firm’s IT Manager named and shamed by hackers in extortion technique.

Mar 30, 2021

US Researchers Design Compact Fusion Power Plant

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, engineering, nuclear energy

New concept delivers continuous electricity with an approach that reduces cost and risk

San Diego, March 29, 2021 – Fusion energy is heating up. In the past few months, both the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released reports calling for aggressive development of fusion energy in the U.S.

Now, scientists at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility have released a new design for a compact fusion reactor that can generate electricity and help define the technology necessary for commercial fusion power. The approach is based on the “Advanced Tokamak” concept pioneered by the DIII-D program, which enables a higher-performance, self-sustaining configuration that holds energy more efficiently than in typical pulsed configurations, allowing it to be built at a reduced scale and cost.

Mar 30, 2021

The Jackery Explorer 1500 Solar Generator Enables Exciting New Possibilities

Posted by in category: energy

The renewable energy experts at Jackery are up to their usual tricks and announced a new line of solar generator products on Jackery Day that open up a completely new range of possibilities.

They sent us their Solar Generator 1500 with two of their slick 100 watt folding Solar Saga panels to run through the paces. On paper, the new Jackery Explorer 1500 Portable Power Station battery was impressive, with its massive 1.5kWh capacity and increased power output capabilities.

Mar 30, 2021

Meet VSS Imagine: Virgin Galactic unveils its first SpaceShip III spacecraft

Posted by in category: space

Virgin Galactic passengers won’t circle Earth like astronauts aboard the International Space Station do. But they will get to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curve of Earth against the blackness of space. More than 600 people have booked a ride to date, at a price (most recently) of $250000 per seat, company representatives have said.


VSS Unity has company.

Mar 30, 2021

Colloidal quantum dot molecules manifesting quantum coupling at room temperature

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Circa 2019 o.o


In analogy to the coupling of atoms into molecules, the authors fuse colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals into quantum dot dimers. These nanocrystal ‘molecules’ exhibit significant quantum coupling effects, making them promising for applications in devices and potential quantum technologies.

Mar 30, 2021

A propellant-free superconducting solenoid thruster driven by geomagnetic field

Posted by in category: space travel

Space travel nowadays relies on physical ejection of propellants, which is challenged by reachable distance of a vehicle in desirable time. In contrast, electromagnetic propulsion was proposed to be a potential solution without need of carrying bulky mass of propellants, by using force interaction of local magnetic dipoles with the external natural magnetic field. Further development of this technique, however, has been daunted by extremely small magnetic induction that can be obtained.

To generate a significant thrust by a system with a reasonable scale, we propose an alternative concept of design, based on the variation of local magnetic dipole moments that has not been considered.

A magnetic dipole is created by wrapping a solenoid around an iron core. It is varied spatially by changing the cross-sectional area of the solenoid, hence giving a gradient of magnetic dipole moment. The interaction force is measured by an in-house force sensor based on a cantilever, which has a high sensitivity of one micro-Newton. In addition, numerical simulation is used to calculate the magnetic field and created force via the Maxwell stress tensor.