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The return capsule of the Chang’e-5 lunar mission was opened on 19 December 2020, in Beijing, China. Scientists extracted the lunar sample container and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) handed over the lunar samples to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for research.

Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) — A Fairbanks clinician suffered anaphylactic symptoms after being given the Pfizer Inc coronavirus vaccine, a hospital said on Friday, becoming the third Alaska health care worker to suffer an adverse reaction to the new drug. The clinician, whose name was not released, started showing symptoms about 10 minutes after being inoculated on Thursday, according to Foundation Health Partners, operator of the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. The health care worker was treated in the hospital’s emergency room with epinephrine and released about six hours later, Foundation Health Partners said in a written statement. “Allergic reactions, though uncommon, can occur with injections of medications and vaccines,” Foundation Health Partners’ Chief Medical Officer Dr. Angelique Ramirez said in the statement.

Graphene, one of the most important nanomaterials developed so far, continues to surprise the scientific community. This time, thanks to the extraordinary phenomena found by a group of physicists from the University of Arkansas. We are talking specifically about the capacity to use the thermal motion of atoms in graphene as a source of energy!

In this recent work, published in Physical Review E under the title Fluctuation-induced current from freestanding graphene, the team of researchers have successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene’s thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.

As it is said in this article : “The idea of harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman’s well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado’s team found that at room temperature the thermal motion of graphene does in fact induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible.”

One good reason for the rarity of radical designs is the enormous expense of the research. Engineers can learn only so much by running tests on the ground, using computational fluid-flow models and hypersonic wind tunnels, which themselves cost a pretty penny (and simulate only some limited aspects of hypersonic flight). Engineers really need to fly their creations, and usually when they do, they use up the test vehicle. That makes design iteration very costly.

India is getting to work on what will be the largest renewable energy project in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation this week — physically — for the 30 gigawatt (GW) wind and solar power project being built in his home state of Gujarat, India.

It was not that long ago that 30 megawatts was a large renewable energy power plant, and 300 megawatts is still considered a large project. 30 gigawatts is 30, 000 megawatts. I know — it doesn’t really seem to make sense. It can’t be that large … right?

Well, there’s no way it’s a single standalone project — but this is apparently a real projects of sorts (series of renewable energy power projects in the same general area) that will reportedly total 30 GW. For some comparison, in total, all across the United States, from Florida to Hawaii, we have 49.45 GW of solar power capacity installed from large solar power plants (not including rooftop solar). India plans to have “one project” in one state total 30 GW — down a bit from the 41.5 GW we reported at the beginning of the month (unless that is simply a longer-term plan). India itself had only 42.8 GW of solar power capacity installed at the end of 2019. Only 5 countries had more than 30 GW of solar power capacity installed.

Situated in waters off the northeast coast of England, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm will have a total capacity of 3.6 gigawatts when completed.

Equinor and SSE have both described it as the “world’s biggest offshore wind farm,” and it will have the ability to power millions of homes in the U.K. annually.

Earlier this month, both Equinor and SSE sold 10% stakes in the first two phases of the project to Italian firm Eni. Upon completion of this deal, Equinor and SSE’s shares of Dogger Bank A & B will still amount to 40% each.