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Dec 26, 2020

Scientists Find Remarkable New Snake Species in Philippines

Posted by in category: sustainability

The Waray dwarf burrowing snake lives a fossorial lifestyle and likely has a diet that is specialized on earthworms or other limbless invertebrates.

It has a maximum total length of 17.2 cm (6.8 inches), making it the smallest known species in the snake superfamily Elapoidea.

“The Waray dwarf burrowing snake has among the fewest number of vertebrae of any snake species in the world, which is likely the result of miniaturization and an adaptation for spending most of its life underground,” said Jeff Weinell, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Biodiversity Institute at the University of Kansas.

Dec 26, 2020

The FBI is Secretly Breaking Into Encrypted Devices. We’re Suing

Posted by in category: encryption

We can’t let the FBI keep the public in the dark about its ability to gain access to information stored on our personal mobile devices.

Dec 26, 2020

UV-LED disinfection of Coronavirus: Wavelength effect

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

UV light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) are an emerging technology and a UV source for pathogen inactivation, however low UV-LED wavelengths are costly and have low fluence rate. Our results suggest that the sensitivity of human Coronavirus (HCoV-OC43 used as SARS-CoV-2 surrogate) was wavelength dependent with 267 nm ~ 279 nm 286 nm 297 nm. Other viruses showed similar results, suggesting UV LED with peak emission at ~286 nm could serve as an effective tool in the fight against human Coronaviruses.

Dec 26, 2020

A New Species Dubbed the Prehistoric ‘Sea Dragon’ Discovered in English Channel

Posted by in category: futurism

A new, mysterious small marine reptile from 150 million years ago, known as the Thalassodraco etchesi or Etches sea dragon, was recently discovered in a Late Jurassic deep marine deposit along the English Channel coastline in Dorset, England. As reported by SciTech Daily, this species may have been able to dive to extreme depths, and was determined to be part of the group known as the ichthyosaurs, which are “streamlined marine predators from the Late Jurassic period.”

Dec 26, 2020

Capella Space unveils super-sharp radar images of Earth (photos)

Posted by in category: space

They’re the sharpest commercially available radar shots of our planet.


Capella Space’s first fully operational satellite has snapped some breathtaking images of Earth during its first few months in orbit.

The Capella-2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, previously known as Sequoia, launched atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster on Aug. 30. Because Capella-2 captures imagery using radio waves rather than visible light, the spacecraft can both peer through clouds and study swaths of our planet that are cloaked in darkness.

Dec 26, 2020

99-Million-Year-Old Fossil Flower Found Encased in Burmese Amber

Posted by in category: food

A team of paleontologists from Oregon State University and the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has found a new genus and species of fossil angiosperm in the mid-Cretaceous amber deposits of Myanmar.

Dec 26, 2020

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins harvests radishes grown in space

Posted by in categories: food, habitats, space

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins harvested fresh radishes grown in space, opening new doors for producing food in microgravity to sustain future longer-term missions to the moon and Mars.

The radishes were grown in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) aboard the International Space Station. NASA shared a time-lapse video of the radishes as they grew inside the APH over the course of 27 days.

Dec 26, 2020

A crewless boat is recreating the Mayflower’s 400-year-old journey, with the help of artificial intelligence

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

To commemorate the anniversary, another vessel is recreating that voyage, with the help of artificial intelligence.

“We don’t know how it’s going to go. Is it going to make it across the Atlantic?” software engineer and emerging technology specialist Rosie Lickorish told CBS News’ Roxana Saberi. “Fingers crossed that it does have a successful first voyage.”

The vessel, docked in the harbor of Plymouth, England, will rely on the latest navigation technology when it sets out to sea — but it won’t be carrying a crew or captain.

Dec 26, 2020

Korean Artificial Sun – KSTAR Fusion Reactor – Sets New World Record

Posted by in category: nuclear energy

KSTAR sets the new world record of 20-sec-long operation at 100 million °C. Aims to continuously operate high-temperature plasma over the 100-million-degree for 300 seconds by 2025.

The Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR), a superconducting fusion device also known as the Korean artificial sun, set the new world record as it succeeded in maintaining the high temperature plasma for 20 seconds with an ion temperature over 100 million degrees.

On November 24, 2020, the KSTAR Research Center at the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy (KEF) announced that in a joint research with the Seoul National University (SNU) and Columbia University of the United States, it succeeded in continuous operation of plasma for 20 seconds with an ion-temperature higher than 100 million degrees, which is one of the core conditions of nuclear fusion in the 2020 KSTAR Plasma Campaign.

Dec 26, 2020

Stanford scientists assemble human nerve circuit driving voluntary movement

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

A Stanford Medicine team used human stem cells to assemble a working nerve circuit connecting brain tissue to muscle tissue. The research could enable scientists to better understand neurological disorders that affect movement.