Now that researchers have created time crystals, the next step is to understand more about this bizarre material.
In a remote galaxy, two neutron stars circled one another in a ballet of ultimate destruction and inevitable creation. Both objects were the remnants of massive stars, probably from a binary system, that had become supernovae long before. Each was incredibly massive, with neutrons so closely packed that their cores became diamond. The dance, alas, could not go on forever and the stars collided, releasing unimaginable energy and sending gravitational waves speeding through the fabric of space-time.
In 2017, 1.3 billion years later, astronomers detected those waves with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. Albert Einstein’s prediction that the universe should be filled with such faint ripples caused by gravity from massive objects included sources such as neutron star mergers. Yet finding a disturbance in the fabric of space-time from this kind of event had proven elusive until then. When news of the detection of gravitational waves broke, the media wanted to know what else happens when neutron stars collide. Astronomers explained that, beyond the destruction of the stars and the ripples in space, such events also create all the heavy elements we know in the blink of an eye. But what did the media key into? That gold comes from outer space.
Facebook Watch
Posted in space
Click on photo to start video.
LIVE: NASA is launching a crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station. This is the first crew rotation flight of a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon ‘Resilience’ will carry astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)
NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy will seek proposals from industry to build a nuclear power plant on the moon and Mars to support its long-term exploration plans. The proposal is for a fission surface power system, and the goal is to have a flight system, lander and reactor in place by 2026.
Anthony Calomino, NASA’s nuclear technology portfolio lead within the Space Technology Mission Directorate, said that the plan is to develop a 10-kilowatt class fission surface power system for demonstration on the moon by the late 2020s. The facility will be fully manufactured and assembled on Earth, then tested for safety and to make sure it operates correctly.
Afterwards, it will be integrated with a lunar lander, and a launch vehicle will transport it to an orbit around the moon. A lander will lower it to the surface, and once it arrives, it will be ready for operation with no additional assembly or construction required. The demonstration is expected to last for one year, and could ultimately lead to extended missions on the moon, Mars, and beyond.
A team of researchers have devised a way to verify that a class of complex programs is bug-free without the need for traditional software testing. Called Armada, the system makes use of a technique called formal verification to prove whether a piece of software will output what it’s supposed to. It targets software that runs using concurrent execution, a widespread method for boosting performance, which has long been a particularly challenging feature to apply this technique to.
The collaborative effort between the University of Michigan, Microsoft Research, and Carnegie Mellon was recognized at ACM’s Programming Language Design and Implementation (PDLI 2020) with a Distinguished Paper Award.
Concurrent programs are known for their complexity, but have been a vital tool for increasing performance after the raw speed of processors began to plateau. Through a variety of different methods, the technique boils down to running multiple instructions in a program simultaneously. A common example of this is making use of multiple cores of a CPU at once.
CRYOLITE: “The Ice That Never Melts”
Posted in futurism
Circa 2015
Bill Gates recently got to check out the Omniprocessor, an ingenious machine designed and built by Janicki Bioenergy, which turns human waste into water and electricity.
Tokyo-based Nakabayashi offers everything from bookbinding services, child car seats and office products. But the newest (and certainly coolest) product of the 2,000-man company is an in-office machine, which turns used copier paper into toilet rolls, right there in the office. Brillant.
The toilet paper machine is able to produce two rolls per hour from around 1,800 sheets (or 7.2kg) of used A4-sized paper, which would have usually been just thrown away. At 600kg, it seems to be a dangerously massive piece of hardware.
Distribution in Japan begins in August and Nakabayashi wants to sell 60 units in the first year. Good luck with that, as each machine comes with a price tag of $95,000. Unfortunately, there is no information on operating costs yet, but I can’t imagine these being in proportion.
Containerized waste water system.
BioKube offers containerized wastewater treatment plants for easy setup and relocation. This solution is ideal for remote locations such as mining camps and oil rig sites.
We offer a variety of capasities that can meet your requirements.
As the pre-assembled wastewater treatment plant is located inside a standard 20 or 40 foot shipping container, it can be relocated and installed with ease at other locations. In most cases it is a one to two-day operation and requires only a flatbed truck and a crane.
Mobile Wastewater Treatment
Posted in energy
Orenco Systems AdvanTex AX-Mobile
For more than a decade, Orenco’s AdvanTex® technology has provided a reliable, energy-efficient alternative for wastewater treatment in some of the world’s most remote places. The AdvanTex is Orenco’s most portable treatment plant yet. Think of it as a “mini” onsite treatment facility, ready to go wherever you need it.