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Jan 5, 2020
IBMâs Lithium-Ion Battery Uses Seawater Materials Instead Of Heavy Metals, Charges In Just 5 Minutes
Posted by Brent Ellman in categories: solar power, sustainability
IBM found a way to make a battery with materials from seawater instead of cobalt or nickel which are harmful to the environment, and it charges much faster.
Lithium-ion batteries are just as important as solar panels and wind turbines in our pursuit of sustainable energy. The use of lithium-ion technology is sustainable, however, its materials are not. When the battery has served its purpose, if itâs not disposed of correctly, it has a profoundly negative impact on the planet. Furthermore, the making of the batteries involves sourcing of heavy metals that are expensive and come at a substantial humanitarian and environmental cost.
In search of a better option, IBM found a way to make a battery that relies on materials from seawater instead. Testing revealed that the new battery is just as good as the one made with heavy metals, such as cobalt and nickel.
Jan 5, 2020
Thanks Boomer? Bitcoin-Friendly Generations to Inherit $70 Trillion
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: bitcoin
Data from Coinshares underscores the wealth from days gone by which will ultimately fall into the hands of those who are sympathetic to Bitcoin as sound money.
Those who consider Bitcoin sound money will benefit from Baby Boomers to the tune of three times of U.S. GDP.
Jan 4, 2020
A Surprising New Source of Attention in the Brain Raises New Questions
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: neuroscience
As you read this line, youâre bringing each word into clear view for a brief moment while blurring out the rest, perhaps even ignoring the roar of a leaf blower outside. It may seem like a trivial skill, but itâs actually fundamental to almost everything we do. If the brain werenât able to pick and choose what portion of the incoming flood of sensory information should get premium processing, the world would look like utter chaosâan incomprehensible soup of attention-hijacking sounds and sights.
Meticulous research over decades has found that the control of this vital ability, called selective attention, belongs to a handful of areas in the brainâs parietal and frontal lobes. Now a new study suggests that another area in an unlikely locationâthe temporal lobeâalso steers the spotlight of attention.
The unexpected addition raises new questions in what has long been considered a settled scientific field. âThe last time an attention controlling area was discovered was 30 years ago,â says Winrich Freiwald, head of Rockefellerâs Laboratory of Neural Systems, who published the findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on November 4, 2019, âThis is a fundamental discovery that might require a rethinking of old concepts about attentional control.â
Jan 4, 2020
Steven Kwast | The Urgent Need for a U.S. Space Force
Posted by Paul Velho in categories: education, engineering, ethics, government, law, policy, sex, space
Starfleet Begins
Steven L. Kwast is a retired Air Force general and former commander of the Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy with a degree in astronautical engineering, he holds a masterâs degree in public policy from Harvardâs Kennedy School of Government. He is a past president of the Air Forceâs Air University in Montgomery, Alabama, and a former fighter pilot with extensive combat and command experience. He is the author of the study, âFast Space: Leveraging Ultra Low-Cost Space Access for 21st Century Challenges.â
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Jan 4, 2020
What CRISPR-baby prison sentences mean for research
Posted by Paul Velho in categories: biotech/medical, law enforcement
BAE Systems is working on a form of atmospheric shield to protect against directed energy weapons.
Jan 4, 2020
Rethinking Consciousness: A Scientific Theory of Subjective Experience
Posted by Mike Diverde in categories: biological, food, neuroscience, robotics/AI
If youâre interested in mind uploading, I have a book that I highly recommend. Rethinking Consciousness is a book by Michael S. A. Graziano, who is a Princeton University professor of psychology and neuroscience.
Early in his book Graziano writes a short summary:
âThis book, however, is written entirely for the general reader. In it, I attempt to spell out, as simply and clearly as possible, a promising scientific theory of consciousness â one that can apply equally to biological brains and artificial machines.â
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Jan 4, 2020
Keep exercising: New study finds itâs good for your brainâs gray matter
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience
Cardiorespiratory exerciseâwalking briskly, running, biking and just about any other exercise that gets your heart pumpingâis good for your body, but can it also slow cognitive changes in your brain?
A study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases provides new evidence of an association between cardiorespiratory fitness and brain health, particularly in gray matter and total brain volumeâregions of the brain involved with cognitive decline and aging.
Brain tissue is made up of gray matter and filaments called white matter that extend from the gray matter cells. The volume of gray matter appears to correlate with various skills and cognitive abilities. The researchers found that increases in peak oxygen uptake are strongly associated with increased gray matter volume.