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Jan 19, 2020

ESA opens plant that turns moondust into oxygen

Posted by in categories: energy, space

If humans are going to have a long-term presence on the Moon, they’re going to need breathable air and rocket fuel — and the ESA might just have a way to create both using the Moon itself. The agency is running a prototype plant that converts moondust (currently simulated, of course) into oxygen that could be used for air and fuel. The technique unlocks the high amounts of oxygen in regolith using molten salt electrolysis that superheats the dust and migrates the oxygen along the salt until it’s collected at an anode. The basic process has already been used for metal and alloy production, but the ESA tweaked it to ensure oxygen was available to measure.

Jan 19, 2020

Liquid Biopsies: A Lung Cancer Game-Changer?

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Newer, less invasive tests are helping scientists isolate genomic alterations.

BY HEATHER MILLAR

MATTHEW TOBIN - PHOTO BY ELIZABETH HORNE

Jan 19, 2020

Mycorrhizal fungi: all you need to know about the Internet of Plants

Posted by in category: internet

Symbiotic fungi have a key role in soil ecosystems and inoculating plants with them has been claimed to benefit their growth. But scientific evidence shows a very complex picture; which might surprise you.

Jan 19, 2020

US Officials Will Screen Travelers from China for New Virus

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

As an outbreak of a new virus in China spreads, U.S. officials will start screening passengers arriving at select U.S. airports.

Jan 19, 2020

Sugar alters brain chemistry after only 12 days

Posted by in categories: chemistry, neuroscience

New research in pigs examines how sugar intake affects the brain’s reward circuits and finds that changes are noticeable after just 12 days.

Jan 19, 2020

How Quartz used AI to sort through the Luanda Leaks

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Reporters had a problem: 350 GB of documents is a lot of documents. Enter machine learning.

Jan 19, 2020

FBI Takes Down Site With 12 Billion Stolen Records

Posted by in category: security

Turkey gets Wikipedia back, Mayor Pete loses his cyberguy, and more of the week’s top security news.

Jan 19, 2020

Fiery SpaceX test of Crew Dragon capsule was ‘picture perfect,’ Elon Musk says

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

SpaceX completed its last major test before flying astronauts to space on Sunday, in a critical high-speed mission that lasted mere minutes.

Launched on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the company conducted a test of its Crew Dragon capsule called in-flight abort.

“Overall, as far as I can tell thus far, this was a picture perfect mission,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a press conference after the test. “I’m super fired up; this is great.”

Jan 19, 2020

Large Hadron Collider gives young ALICE a black-hole ray gun

Posted by in category: futurism

Essentially a pocket lhc could make a perfect raygun.


What could possibly go wrong?

Continue reading “Large Hadron Collider gives young ALICE a black-hole ray gun” »

Jan 19, 2020

Laser diode emits deep UV light

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

Nagoya University researchers say they have designed a laser diode that emits the shortest-wavelength ultraviolet light to-date, with potential applications in disinfection, dermatology, and DNA analyses.