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Mar 8, 2018
Scientists Observe Red Giant Waking Up Neutron Star in a Flash
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: energy, space
Neutron stars aren’t the twinkle-twinkle kind you typically see in the night sky. They’re stellar corpses, and incredibly dense sources of gravity, with perhaps 1.5 times the mass of the sun packed into an area less than a dozen miles across. Around 9,000 light years away from Earth, one neutron star seems to have befriended a red dwarf. And scientists observed the new relationship beginning in a flash of energy.
An international team of researchers first spotted what looked like the symbiotic relationship of an old red dwarf star waking up a neutron star on August 13, 2017, using an Earth-orbiting telescope called INTEGRAL. While binary stars are common, lots of things about this finding, from capturing the initial blast that signaled the start of the stellar relationship, were a surprise.
“It was a very exciting find,” study author Arash Bahramian from Michigan State University told Gizmodo, “Especially given that it’s rare to see the start of the process.”
Continue reading “Scientists Observe Red Giant Waking Up Neutron Star in a Flash” »
Mar 8, 2018
Watch: ALMA Telescopes Zoom 1,350 Light-Years into Space
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space
Astronomers were able to use powerful telescopes to zoom 1,350 light-years away from Earth into the Orion Nebula. Here’s what they found.
Mar 8, 2018
Quantum Computers Reach Big Milestone With Perfectly-Placed ‘Talking’ Atoms
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics
A group of Australian scientists made reached a major milestone towards building a quantum computer. Here’s how they revolutionized the field.
Mar 8, 2018
Delivering right on the spot … in the brain
Posted by Roman Mednitzer in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI
We are making good progress in identifying neural circuits in our brain, small areas responsible for the execution of specific tasks. It is not always the case, actually several tasks are involving many areas in different regions of the brain. Also in this case, however, specific regions host neural circuits whose activity spread around influencing other neural networks. The malfunctioning of these “networks” results in disabilities and the good news is that researchers are starting to find ways to restore (in some cases) the correct working of these neural circuits using drugs.
The problem, however, is that these drugs cannot be delivered through the blood vessels since they would reach “the whole brain” and what is good for a “faulty” circuit may be bad for a “good” circuit. Besides, many drugs cannot flow across the membrane separating the arteries and veins from the brain (the so called blood-brain barrier). This obstacle is exploited by new technologies based on ultrasound beams that can be focussed in a specific place of the brain resulting in the opening of the blood vessels membrane in that area thus letting the drug reach the neurones. This is great but in mot cases it is not enough because the area “flooded” by the drug is still quite large (on a neuronal scale).
Continue reading “Delivering right on the spot … in the brain” »
Mar 8, 2018
Most Americans See Artificial Intelligence as a Threat to Jobs (Just Not Theirs)
Posted by Derick Lee in categories: employment, robotics/AI
The vast majority of Americans expect artificial intelligence to lead to job losses in the coming decade, but few see it coming for their own position.
The other findings, released in January, show that more than three in four Americans believe that artificial intelligence will fundamentally change how the public works and lives in the coming decade.
A new study reveals how widely Americans use and welcome technologies featuring artificial intelligence.
Mar 8, 2018
Geometric clusters of cyclones churn over Jupiter’s poles
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: business, space
What you do on the Internet is nobody’s business but yours. At ProxySite.com, we stand between your web use and anyone who tries to sneak a peek at it. Instead of connecting directly to a website, let us connect to the website and send it back to you, and no one will know where you’ve been. Big Brother (or other, less ominous snoops) won’t be able to look over your shoulder and spy on you to see what you’re reading, watching or saying.
Mar 8, 2018
Australia Is Set to Become The First Country to Completely Eliminate One Type of Cancer
Posted by Shane Hinshaw in category: biotech/medical
The International Papillomavirus Society has announced that Australia could become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer entirely.
According to a new study, Australia’s efforts to distribute a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for free in schools have been a resounding success.
The sexually transmitted infection causes 99.9 percent of cases of cervical cancer.
Mar 8, 2018
Air Force Tech Can Hit With the Impact of a Nuclear Weapon With No Fallout
Posted by Shane Hinshaw in category: military
Unlike traditional chemical explosives, kinetic weapons need only speed and mass to do damage. These weapons have evolved significantly since the 1950s.
Mar 8, 2018
Engineers develop eco-friendly smart glass panels that switch from transparent to opaque
Posted by Shane Hinshaw in category: innovation
Someday we won’t need curtains or blinds on our windows, and we will be able to block out light—or let it in—with just the press of a button. At least that’s what Keith Goossen, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, hopes.
Goossen and Daniel Wolfe, who earned a doctoral degree from UD last year, developed panels that can switch between allowing light in and blocking it out. This “smart glass” technology could be utilized in eco-friendly windows, windshields, roof panes and building envelopes, absorbing light and heat in the winter and reflecting it away in the summer.
Although Goossen isn’t the first scientist to make smart glass, his team’s invention is about one-tenth the price of other versions. It is also more transparent in its transparent state and more reflective in its reflective state than competitors, he said.