Lifeboat Foundation

“Through our simulated impacts, we found that the pure water froze too quickly in a vacuum to effect meaningful change, but salt and water mixtures, or brines, stayed liquid and flowing for a minimum of one hour,” said Dr. Michael J. Poston.

How does extra salty water, also known as briny water, form and evolve on worlds without atmospheres, such as asteroids and moons? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how briny water could still flow for a period of time on the asteroid Vesta after large impacts resulted in the melting of subsurface ice. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the geological and chemical processes on planetary bodies without atmospheres and what this could mean for finding life as we know it.

“We wanted to investigate our previously proposed idea that ice underneath the surface of an airless world could be excavated and melted by an impact and then flow along the walls of the impact crater to form distinct surface features,” said Dr. Jennifer Scully, who is a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and a co-author on the study.

Continue reading “Unlocking the Mysteries of Celestial Flow Features” »

Large meteorite impacts must have strongly affected the habitability of the early Earth. Rocks of the Archean Eon record at least 16 major impact events, involving bolides larger than 10 km in diameter. These impacts probably had severe, albeit temporary, consequences for surface environments. However, their effect on early life is not well understood. Here, we analyze the sedimentology, petrography, and carbon isotope geochemistry of sedimentary rocks across the S2 impact event (37 to 58 km carbonaceous chondrite) forming part of the 3.26 Ga Fig Tree Group, South Africa, to evaluate its environmental effects and biological consequences.

Scientists have synthesized an isotope of the superheavy element livermorium using a novel fusion reaction. The result paves the way for the discovery of new chemical elements.

How and where in the Universe are the chemical elements created? How can we explain their relative abundance? What is the maximum number of protons and neutrons that the nuclear force can bind in a single nucleus? Nuclear physicists and chemists expect to find answers to such questions by creating and studying new elements. But as elements get more and more massive, they become harder and harder to synthesize. The heaviest elements discovered so far were created by bombarding high-atomic-number (high-Z) actinide targets with beams of calcium-48 (⁴⁸ Ca). This isotope is particularly suited to such experiments because of its peculiar nuclear configuration, in which the number of neutrons and protons are both “magic numbers.” Yet this approach could not produce elements beyond oganesson (proton number, Z = 118).

A new method for studying the behavior of multiparticle systems relies on a simple “head count” of particles in imaginary boxes.

One way to characterize the interactions in a bacterial colony or a polymer mixture is to trace the path of individual particles through the system, but such tracking can become difficult when the particles are indistinguishable. Researchers have developed a new method that extracts particle dynamics from a simple counting of particles in imaginary boxes of adjustable size [1]. They demonstrated this “countoscope” strategy in experiments with small plastic spheres moving around in a liquid. The measured rate of diffusion was different for different sized boxes, which revealed particle clumping. The countoscope’s ability to identify such collective behavior could one day help researchers understand the mechanisms that cause bacteria and other life forms to group together.

Biologists, chemists, and soft-matter physicists often study many-particle systems in which the particles shuffle around each other in a “random walk.” A useful measure of this behavior is the diffusion constant, which describes how fast an individual particle moves. A measurement of the diffusion constant can tell a biologist whether cells are healthy or sick, or it can tell a chemist how fast a molecule will move through a gel in a chemical-analysis device. The diffusion constant is typically determined by following the path of a single particle in a video recording. This trajectory reconstruction becomes difficult, however, when the particles are numerous and all look the same, says Sophie Marbach from Sorbonne University in France.

Lignin, a…

Trees are the most abundant natural resource living on Earth’s land masses, and North Carolina State University scientists and engineers are making headway in finding ways to use them as sustainable, environmentally benign alternatives to producing industrial chemicals from petroleum.

Lignin, a polymer that makes trees rigid and resistant to degradation, has proven problematic. Now those NC State researchers know why: They’ve identified the specific molecular property of lignin — its methoxy content — that determines just how hard, or easy, it would be to use microbial fermentation to turn trees and other plants into industrial chemicals.

Continue reading “Finding Could Help Turn Trees Into Affordable, Greener Industrial Chemicals” »

Predicting the behavior of many interacting quantum particles is a complex task, but it’s essential for unlocking the potential of quantum computing in real-world applications. A team of researchers, led by EPFL, has developed a new method to compare quantum algorithms and identify the most challenging quantum problems to solve.

Quantum systems, from subatomic particles to complex molecules, hold the key to understanding the workings of the universe. However, modeling these systems quickly becomes overwhelming due to their immense complexity. It’s like trying to predict the behavior of a massive crowd where everyone constantly influences everyone else. When you replace the crowd with quantum particles, you encounter what’s known as the “quantum many-body problem.”

Quantum many-body problems involve predicting the behavior of numerous interacting quantum particles. Solving these problems could lead to major breakthroughs in fields like chemistry and materials science, and even accelerate the development of technologies like quantum computers.

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are neuromorphic transistors made of carbon-based materials that combine both electronic and ionic charge carriers. These transistors could be particularly effective solutions for amplifying and switching electronic signals in devices designed to be placed on the human skin, such as smart watches, trackers that monitor physiological signals and other wearable technologies.

In contrast with conventional neuromorphic transistors, OECTs could operate reliably in wet or humid environments, which would be highly advantageous for both medical and wearable devices. Despite their potential, most existing OECTs are based on stiff materials, which can reduce the comfort of wearables and thus hinder their large-scale deployment.

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong have developed a new wearable device based on stretchable OECTs that can both perform computations and collect signals from the surrounding environment. Their proposed system, presented in a paper published in Nature Electronics, could be used to realize in-sensor edge computing on a flexible wearable device that is comfortable for users.

Just as we mimicked birds and fish to model cars and planes, we may gain inspiration for deep dive vehicles.

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.

Continue reading “How Cells Resist the Pressure of the Deep Sea” »

A flow battery, also known as a reduction-oxidation (Redox) flow battery, is an electrochemical cell that uses two moving liquid electrolytes to generate electricity.

Ion transfer occurs across the cell membrane, accompanied by current flow through an external circuit, while the liquids circulate in their respective spaces. The liquids required are stored in separate tanks until required.

Continue reading “All electric without batteries: Are flow batteries the future of EVs?” »