Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists discover that interplanetary shocks that strike Earth’s magnetic field head-on cause more powerful ground-level electric currents, threatening pipelines and submarine cables.

Auroras are caused by particles from the sun hitting the Earth’s magnetic field — but these impacts also cause geomagnetically induced currents at ground level, which can damage infrastructure that conducts electricity. Scientists studying these currents to protect critical infrastructure have carried out the first research which compares interplanetary shocks to real-time measurements of geomagnetically induced currents, showing that the angle of the shocks’ impact is key for forecasting possible damage to infrastructure: shocks that hit the magnetic field at an angle produce less powerful currents.

The impact of interplanetary shocks on infrastructure.

Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered a mysterious subterranean structure with painted walls hidden beneath a Maya ball court.

The team found the building while excavating the ball court, the playing space for the ritual ball game played by the Maya and other Mesoamerican peoples.

NASA ’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned a sample from asteroid Bennu, revealing it contains key solar system materials and possible signs of a watery past. This discovery provides valuable insights into the early solar system’s conditions and the potential origins of life.

A deep dive into the sample of rocks and dust returned from near-Earth asteroid Bennu by NASA’s University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed some long-awaited surprises.

Bennu contains the original ingredients that formed our solar system, the OSIRIS-REx Sample Analysis Team found. The asteroid’s dust is rich in carbon and nitrogen, as well as organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it. The sample also contains magnesium sodium phosphate, which was as a surprise to the research team, because it wasn’t seen in the remote sensing data collected by the spacecraft at Bennu. Its presence in the sample hints that the asteroid could have splintered off from a long-gone, tiny, primitive ocean world.

A Cincinnati-based aerospace company has successfully represented a new, cutting-edge hypersonic dual-mode ramjet. The engine could enable high-speed flight and longer range across numerous multi-mission aircraft.

GE Aerospace took 11 months to develop the ramjet, which could increase in airflow compared to previously flight-tested hypersonic technology demonstrators.

“The rapid progression from design to testing underscores our commitment to driving innovation in hypersonic technologies,” said Amy Gowder, president and CEO of Defense & Systems at GE Aerospace.

Crash telemetry databases show a trend.

A experiment that simulated random interactions for millions of generations led to the emergence of a digital form of life.

In a study published recently in Physical Review Letters, researchers unveiled a new type of quantum sensor that they report leverages quantum entanglement to perform detections that, note the quote marks, “travel back in time”. The researchers add the findings could — one day — lead to novel quantum sensors that are ideally suited for astronomical detection and magnetic field investigations.

The study, led by Kater Murch, Charles M. Hohenberg Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for Quantum Leaps at Washington University in St. Louis, introduces a sensor that can probe past events in complex systems. The team, which also included scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Cambridge, described the innovation in the press release as a bit like “sending a telescope back in time to capture a shooting star that you saw out of the corner of your eye.”

The sensor operates by entangling two quantum particles in a quantum singlet state, where their spins point in opposite directions. The process begins with one particle, the “probe,” being subjected to a magnetic field that causes it to rotate. The key breakthrough comes when the second particle, the “ancilla,” is measured. This measurement effectively sends its quantum state back in time to the probe, allowing researchers to optimally set the spin direction of the probe qubit in what Murch refers to as hindsight.

This facility is larger than Apple Park and Microsoft’s Redmond Campus, combined.

In 2023, Google and Microsoft each consumed 24 TWh of electricity, surpassing the consumption of over 100 nations, including places like Iceland, Ghana, and Tunisia, according to an analysis by Michael Thomas. While massive energy usage means a substantial environmental impact for these tech giants, it should be noted that Google and Microsoft also generate more money than many countries. Furthermore, companies like Intel, Google, and Microsoft lead renewable energy adoption within the industry.

Detailed analysis reveals that Google’s and Microsoft’s electricity consumption — 24 TWh in 2023 — equals the power consumption of Azerbaijan (a nation of 10.14 million) and is higher than that of several other countries. For instance, Iceland, Ghana, the Dominican Republic, and Tunisia each consumed 19 TWh, while Jordan consumed 20 TWh. Of course, some countries consume more power than Google and Microsoft. For example, Slovakia, a country with 5.4 million inhabitants, consumes 26 TWh.