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Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) see a realistic path forward to the manufacture of bio-derivable wind blades that can be chemically recycled and the components reused, ending the practice of old blades winding up in landfills at the end of their useful life.

The findings are published in the journal Science. The new resin, which is made of materials produced using bio-derivable resources, performs on par with the current industry standard of blades made from a thermoset resin and outperforms certain thermoplastic resins intended to be recyclable.

The researchers built a prototype 9-meter blade to demonstrate the manufacturability of an NREL-developed biomass-derivable resin nicknamed PECAN. The acronym stands for PolyEster Covalently Adaptable Network, and the manufacturing process dovetails with current methods.

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Memory consolidation involves the synchronous reactivation of hippocampal cells active during recent experience in sleep sharp-wave ripples (SWRs). How this increase in firing rates and synchrony after learning is counterbalanced to preserve network stability is not understood. We discovered a network event generated by an intrahippocampal circuit formed by a subset of CA2 pyramidal cells to cholecystokinin-expressing (CCK+) basket cells, which fire a barrage of action potentials (“BARR”) during non–rapid eye movement sleep. CA1 neurons and assemblies that increased their activity during learning were reactivated during SWRs but inhibited during BARRs. The initial increase in reactivation during SWRs returned to baseline through sleep. This trend was abolished by silencing CCK+ basket cells during BARRs, resulting in higher synchrony of CA1 assemblies and impaired memory consolidation.

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The most recent email you sent was likely encrypted using a tried-and-true method that relies on the idea that even the fastest computer would be unable to efficiently break a gigantic number into factors.

Quantum computers, on the other hand, promise to rapidly crack complex cryptographic systems that a classical computer might never be able to unravel. This promise is based on a quantum factoring proposed in 1994 by Peter Shor, who is now a professor at MIT.

But while researchers have taken great strides in the last 30 years, scientists have yet to build a quantum computer powerful enough to run Shor’s algorithm.

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A molecular biology research team at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has become the first to map out how mitochondrial messenger RNA folds in human cells.

The research advances knowledge about the expression of genes in the mitochondria and paves the way for identification of therapeutic targets for mitochondrial neurodegenerative diseases.

“Dysfunctional mitochondria can cause devastating diseases, frequently with childhood-onset, known as mitochondrial encephalomyopathies. Despite advances in identifying genes responsible for these disorders, their pathophysiological mechanisms have been poorly understood,” said Antoni Barrientos, Ph.D., professor of neurology and biochemistry and molecular biology at the Miller School. “This was partly due to a lack of a full understanding of mitochondrial gene expression. Specifically, nothing was known about how mitochondrial messenger RNA folds and how that could influence its stability and translation in health and disease.”

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To produce light, lasers typically rely on optical cavities, pairs of mirrors facing each other that amplify light by bouncing it back and forth. Recently, some physicists have been investigating the generation of “laser light” in open air without the use of optical cavities, a phenomenon known as cavity-free lasing in atmospheric air.

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SpaceX finished construction of its second launch tower down at Starbase, Texas for its Starship rocket. This comes hopefully a few weeks out from the next launch of the company’s next generation rocket.

Over the last few months SpaceX has cleared land and constructed a new launch tower at its research, development, and launch facilities down at Starbase, Texas. This now gives the company three towers total for Starship, two at Starbase and one more over in Florida at LC-39A.

There is still plenty of work to be done at the pad, it still needs the launch table, chopsticks, plumbing for propellent, etc. However, the biggest and most prominent feature is now complete.

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