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Mar 1, 2019
Scientists have found two planets outside our solar system that could host extra-terrestrial life
Posted by Michael Lance in category: alien life
Are we alone in the universe?
Using data on the UV levels required to make the molecular structures needed within a functioning cell, scientists may have just found a pair of planets capable of supporting life — both exo-planets receive similar UV levels from stars needed to promote cell function, one of which is Kepler-452b.
Mar 1, 2019
Today in Space History: A space Pioneer embarks on a historic mission
Posted by Michael Lance in category: alien life
As it travels through space, Pioneer 10 carries a unique payload: a 6.0 × 9.0 in gold-anodized aluminum plaque with images of two nude human figures (one male and one female) and information on the probe’s origin. It was designed by astronomers Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, just in case intelligent life finds the spacecraft. #FlipFacts
Mar 1, 2019
Parents can better cuddle premature babies thanks to tiny new sensors
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: electronics
“Without all these cords, you feel like, this is my little human that I can pick up and snuggle,” one mom says.
Mar 1, 2019
Elon Musk sent a $100K Tesla Roadster to space a year ago. It has now traveled farther than any other car in history
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: Elon Musk, space travel, sustainability
Fans like Ben Pearson use NASA data to project the car’s location through space. For now, the convertible will continue its long drive around our inner solar system. And perhaps if humans make it to Mars like Musk hopes, we might even see the Roadster on our way there.
Mar 1, 2019
Prospects for Bioinspired Single-Photon Detection Using Nanotube-Chromophore Hybrids
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: computing, cyborgs, nanotechnology, quantum physics
The human eye is an exquisite photodetection system with the ability to detect single photons. The process of vision is initiated by single-photon absorption in the molecule retinal, triggering a cascade of complex chemical processes that eventually lead to the generation of an electrical impulse. Here, we analyze the single-photon detection prospects for an architecture inspired by the human eye: field-effect transistors employing carbon nanotubes functionalized with chromophores. We employ non-equilibrium quantum transport simulations of realistic devices to reveal device response upon absorption of a single photon. We establish the parameters that determine the strength of the response such as the magnitude and orientation of molecular dipole(s), as well as the arrangements of chromophores on carbon nanotubes. Moreover, we show that functionalization of a single nanotube with multiple chromophores allows for number resolution, whereby the number of photons in an incoming light packet can be determined. Finally, we assess the performance prospects by calculating the dark count rate, and we identify the most promising architectures and regimes of operation.
Mar 1, 2019
How I Became a Robot in London—From 5,000 Miles Away
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: robotics/AI
Wearing a haptic feedback glove, I pilot a robotic hand from across the world, feeling what it feels. The sensation is almost too weird to be real.
Mar 1, 2019
Lise Meitner Is the Forgotten Female Physicist Who Deserved a Nobel Prize
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: military, particle physics
Nuclear fission — the physical process by which very large atoms like uranium split into pairs of smaller atoms — is what makes nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants possible. But for many years, physicists believed it energetically impossible for atoms as large as uranium (atomic mass = 235 or 238) to be split into two.
That all changed on Feb. 11, 1939, with a letter to the editor of Nature — a premier international scientific journal — that described exactly how such a thing could occur and even named it fission. In that letter, physicist Lise Meitner, with the assistance of her young nephew Otto Frisch, provided a physical explanation of how nuclear fission could happen.
It was a massive leap forward in nuclear physics, but today Lise Meitner remains obscure and largely forgotten. She was excluded from the victory celebration because she was a Jewish woman. Her story is a sad one.
Continue reading “Lise Meitner Is the Forgotten Female Physicist Who Deserved a Nobel Prize” »
Mar 1, 2019
The tallest building in California will be a 77-story ‘supertall’ skyscraper in Los Angeles
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: futurism, space
- Los Angeles could be getting a brand-new skyscraper that’s taller than the Wilshire Grand — the tallest tower in California.
- The planned skyscraper is 77 stories high and features a mixture of condos, hotel rooms, and commercial space.
- The future development represents a growing trend of supertall construction as cities compete to have the most impressive skylines.
Los Angeles has endured endless criticism for its low-lying slab buildings, flat-topped towers, and mismatched design aesthetics.
In 2013, the former architecture critic at Los Angeles magazine, Greg Goldin, lamented the city’s “dull” and “mediocre” landscape.
Mar 1, 2019
China bans 23m from buying travel tickets as part of ‘social credit’ system
Posted by Caycee Dee Neely in category: transportation
China is expanding its insane implementation of a The Orville and Black Mirror episode.
People accused of social offences blocked from booking flights and train journeys.