Posted in solar power, space, sustainability
You probably hear a lot of news from NASA’s many amazing Mars missions: the Curiosity rover, InSight, MRO, and more. NASA is good at promoting their stuff of course, but also the images returned from all these missions are truly wonderful.
You may not hear as much from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission. Well, you may have heard about the lander Beagle 2: It set down safely on the surface, but two of the four solar panels didn’t deploy, dooming that part of that mission.
A team of chemists at California Institute of Technology has totally synthesized perseanol using a 16-step process for the first time. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes their process and how well it worked.
In nature, perseanol is a molecule produced by the persea tree. Shortly after its discovery in the late 1990s, researchers found that the molecule was similar to ryanodine, a once-popular pesticide. They have similar architecture, though perseanol lacks a pyrrole-2-carboxylate ester. Because of the similarities, interest in using perseanol on commercial crops grew. Not much later, a cheaper alternative was found, and the molecule never made it to the farm. But interest in it persists because of its ecofriendly reputation. For that reason, chemists have been working to produce it in the lab—if successful, the results would be both cheaper and more environmentally friendly than products now in use.
The researchers note that ryanodine works as a pesticide by binding to calcium channels in insects’ muscles, paralyzing them. It can paralyze animals, too, but perseanol is believed to be more specific to insects, making it a potentially safer pesticide. The researchers also note that little research has been performed to determine the means by which perseanol kills bugs. That could change however, if interest in using perseanol as a pesticide is rekindled.
ELON Musk and his SpaceX team want to get its new rocket, which will one day ferry humans to the Moon, Mars and “beyond” into orbit within just six months.
The massive event celebrated 70 years of Communist rule — and an arsenal for its next decade.
China’s newest weapons were on display Tuesday at the massive military parade staged in Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of Communist rule. China watchers noticed a new emphasis on airborne and naval drones and the public unveiling of a new hypersonic missile and a new ICBM.
The parade offered the first clear look at the supersonic DR −8 spy drone, which “would be expected to play a key role should there be a conflict with US aircraft carrier strike groups in the South China Sea or Western Pacific,” wrote the South China Morning Post.
The composition of the gut microbiome has been linked to countless areas of health. But could it really protect the gut against damage from radiotherapy treatment? Photo credit: Getty royalty-free.
A study of people in an intensive care unit has found that being in hospital can lead to harmful strains of bacteria taking over your microbiome.
Electric motorcycle and scooter design uses two or three wheel layouts outfitted with an electric motor and battery used for long distance travel, commuting and cruising.
an electric motorcycle concept based on dyson’s bladeless fans.
Link to the Auction ► https://ebay.to/2mIu1cM
SOCIAL:
Email list ► https://www.megabots.com
Instagram ► https://instagram.com/megabots
Twitter ► https://twitter.com/megabots
Facebook ► https://facebook.com/megabotsinc
Twitch ► https://twitch.tv/megabotsinc
Discord ► https://discord.gg/rWNTHGK
Reddit ► https://reddit.com/r/megabots
SUPPORT GIANT ROBOTS:
Register to pilot ► https://www.megabots.com/book
Join us on Patreon ► https://patreon.com/megabots
Buy a t-shirt or poster ► https://megabots.com/store
#megabots #technology #robotics
Link to the Auction ► https://ebay.to/2mIu1cM
SOCIAL:
Email list ► https://www.megabots.com
Instagram ► https://instagram.com/megabots
Twitter ► https://twitter.com/megabots
Facebook ► https://facebook.com/megabotsinc
Twitch ► https://twitch.tv/megabotsinc
Discord ► https://discord.gg/rWNTHGK
Reddit ► https://reddit.com/r/megabots
SUPPORT GIANT ROBOTS:
Register to pilot ► https://www.megabots.com/book
Join us on Patreon ► https://patreon.com/megabots
Buy a t-shirt or poster ► https://megabots.com/store
#megabots #technology #robotics” | >
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have designed 3D printed mesh-like structures that morph from flat layers into predetermined shapes, in response to changes in ambient temperature. The new structures can transform into configurations that are more complex than what other shape-shifting materials and structures can achieve.
As a demonstration, the researchers printed a flat mesh that, when exposed to a certain temperature difference, deforms into the shape of a human face. They also designed a mesh embedded with conductive liquid metal, that curves into a dome to form an active antenna, the resonance frequency of which changes as it deforms.
The team’s new design method can be used to determine the specific pattern of flat mesh structures to print, given the material’s properties, in order to make the structure transform into a desired shape.
Rice University physicist Qimiao Si began mapping quantum criticality more than a decade ago, and he’s finally found a traveler that can traverse the final frontier.
The traveler is an alloy of cerium palladium and aluminum, and its journey is described in a study published online this week in Nature Physics by Si, a theoretical physicist and director of the Rice Center for Quantum Materials (RCQM), and colleagues in China, Germany and Japan.
Si’s map is a graph called a phase diagram, a tool that condensed-matter physicists often use to interpret what happens when a material changes phase, as when a solid block of ice melts into liquid water.
