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Sep 6, 2020

Tatooine-like exoplanet could be orbiting in this triple-star system

Posted by in category: space

And it would be just one of many exoplanets found outside of our solar system that resemble the weird and wonderful planets of Star Wars.

Sep 6, 2020

DARPA teams begin work on tiny brain implant to treat PTSD

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, neuroscience

Circa 2014 o,.o.


The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has announced the start of a five-year, $26 million effort to develop brain implants that can treat mental disease with deep-brain stimulation.

The hope is to implant electrodes in different regions of the brain along with a tiny chip placed between the brain and the skull. The chip would monitor electrical signals in the brain and send data wirelessly back to scientists in order to gain a better understanding of psychological diseases like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The implant would also be used to trigger electrical impulses in order to relieve symptoms.

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Sep 6, 2020

Japan’s Science Missteps Risk Major Diplomatic Incident In Mauritius Over Wakashio Oil Spill

Posted by in categories: science, sustainability

As Japanese scientists try to claim no Wakashio oil in Mauritian waters despite images, Mauritius sign a major trade deal with China amid growing frustration with Japan. What started as a shipping incident is fast turning into a major diplomatic crisis for Japan.

Sep 6, 2020

Lighting the way for new solar fuels science

Posted by in categories: science, solar power, sustainability

Yale chemists are pushing forward with innovative work to develop tomorrow’s liquid fuels from sunlight.

A quintet of Yale researchers — Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Nilay Hazari, Patrick Holland, James Mayer, and Hailiang Wang — are among the principal investigators (PI) for the U.S. Department of Energy’s $40 million Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels (CHASE).

CHASE, which involves six scientific institutions, will be based at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Yale’s portion of the funding is $6.27 million over five years, and will support dozens of graduate student and postdoctoral co-workers on Science Hill and in the Energy Sciences Institute at West Campus.

Sep 6, 2020

SpaceX broke a record by launching 180 satellites in 1 month — accelerating Elon Musk’s project to blanket Earth in high-speed internet

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, internet, satellites

SpaceX just launched more satellites in a month than history has ever seen. But that’s bad news for astronomers.


SpaceX’s newest satellites sport sun visors — an effort to reduce their brightness in the night sky and their impact on astronomers’ telescopes.

Sep 6, 2020

China hails ‘key breakthroughs’ as reusable spacecraft returns safely

Posted by in categories: innovation, space travel

“It will provide more convenient and cheaper transport for the peaceful use of space in the future.”


Experimental vessel lands safely after spending two days orbiting the planet.

Sep 6, 2020

EPA approves two Lysol products as the first to effectively kill novel coronavirus on surfaces

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Lysol Disinfectant Spray and Lysol Disinfectant Max Cover Mist meet the EPA’s criteria for use against the SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the ongoing pandemic, based on laboratory testing that found both products kill the virus two minutes after contact, the agency announced in a statement Monday.

While there are more than 420 products on the list of disinfectants that the EPA says are strong enough to ward off “harder-to-kill” viruses than the novel coronavirus, the two Lysol products are the first to have been tested directly against the virus and proved effective.

Sep 6, 2020

Earth Should Be Dry – An Unexpected Meteorite Discovery Reveals the Origin of Earth’s Vast Oceans

Posted by in categories: materials, space

Meteorite material presumed to be devoid of water because it formed in the dry inner Solar System appears to have contained sufficient hydrogen to have delivered to Earth at least three times the mass of water in its oceans, a new study shows.

While the idea that enstatite chondrite (EC) meteorites contained enough hydrogen to provide water to the growing proto-Earth has been proposed, efforts to rigorously test this scenario have been hampered by difficulties in measuring hydrogen concentrations in ECs — an obstacle this study overcame.

According to models of Solar System formation, Earth should be dry. However, our blue planet’s vast oceans, humid atmosphere and well-hydrated geology boldly defy such predictions, making it unique among the other rocky planets of the inner Solar System.

Sep 6, 2020

California ISO Declares Stage 2 Emergency, Warns of Rotating Blackouts

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

California’s Independent System Operator declared a Stage 2 emergency Saturday, warning residents to expect rotating blackouts and advising them to conserve energy.

Stage 2 means, “The ISO has taken all mitigating action and is no longer able to provide its expected energy requirements.”

The declaration was due to high heat and increased demand, according to CAISO. In addition, CAISO said fires caused a generator and a solar farm to trip offline, highlighting the need for residents to reduce energy use.

Sep 6, 2020

Ultracold atoms can work together to shape or steer light

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

At these temperatures, the atoms move extremely slowly and can be controlled through quantum mechanical effects that are negligible at higher temperatures.

The team used lasers to excite the atoms and coax them into one shared motion. They found that when the atoms act collectively, they can shape and steer light through their electrical and magnetic interactions with it. The shared behavior allows them to act like a collection of electric charges or very small magnets that affect the light.