Lifeboat Foundation

Lead author Yurii Victorovich Kovtun, despite being forced to evacuate the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology amid the current Russia-Ukraine war, has continued to work with Kyoto University to create stable plasmas using microwaves.

Getting plasma just right is one of the hurdles to harnessing the massive amounts of energy promised by nuclear fusion.

Plasmas — soups of ions and electrons — must be held at the right density, temperature, and duration for atomic nuclei to fuse together to achieve the desired release of energy.

A Stanford study collected the AI skills most in demand. Here’s what you need to know.

With Yann LeCun, Silver Professor at NYU, VP & Chief AI Scientist at Meta in a fireside chat with Dr. Frédérique de Vignemont, CNRS & NYU.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=A-On5P61sRQ

The matter of the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the United States in February this year refuses to die down. A media house has reported that the balloon gathered intelligence from several US military sites and transmitted it back to Beijing in real-time. Beijing had said at the time that the balloon was a weather ship blown astray and entered the US airspace by mistake.

#spyballoon #china #us.

Continue reading “Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence on US military sites : Report | Latest English News | WION” »

A new spin behavior has been found in the light-induced electron emission of tungsten ditelluride.

Two atom-thick layers of the same crystalline material can be stacked on top of each other in ways that yield ferroelectricity.

There is no stable microbial community residing in the bloodstream of healthy humans, according to a new study led by a UCL researcher.

The new Nature Microbiology paper makes an important confirmation as blood donations are a crucial part of medical practice. Understanding what types of microbes may be found in blood may allow the development of better microbial tests in blood donations, which would minimize the risk of transfusion-related infections.

Lead author, Ph.D. student Cedric Tan (UCL Genetics Institute and Francis Crick Institute) said, Human blood is generally considered sterile. While sometimes microorganisms will enter the bloodstream such as via a wound or after tooth-brushing, mostly this is quickly resolved by the immune system.

Through global-scale seismic imaging of Earth’s interior, research led by The University of Alabama revealed a layer between the core and the mantle that is likely a dense, yet thin, sunk ocean floor, according to results published today in Science Advances.

Seen only in isolated patches previously, the latest data suggests this layer of ancient ocean floor may cover the core-mantle boundary. Subducted underground long ago as the Earth’s plates shifted, this ultra-low velocity zone, or ULVZ, is denser than the rest of the deep mantle, slowing seismic waves reverberating beneath the surface.

“Seismic investigations, such as ours, provide the highest resolution imaging of the interior structure of our planet, and we are finding that this structure is vastly more complicated than once thought,” said Dr. Samantha Hansen, the George Lindahl III Endowed Professor in geological sciences at UA and lead author of the study. “Our research provides important connections between shallow and deep Earth structure and the overall processes driving our planet.”

Deep within our brain’s temporal lobes, two almond-shaped cell masses help keep us alive. This tiny region, called the amygdala, assists with a variety of brain activities. It helps us learn and remember. It triggers our fight-or-flight response. It even promotes the release of a feel-good chemical called dopamine.

Scientists have learned all this by studying the amygdala over hundreds of years. But we still haven’t reached a full understanding of how these processes work.

Now, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory neuroscientist Bo Li has brought us several important steps closer. His lab recently made a series of discoveries that show how neurons called somatostatin-expressing (Sst⁺) central amygdala (CeA) neurons help us learn about threats and rewards. He also demonstrated how these neurons relate to dopamine. The discoveries could lead to future treatments for anxiety or drug addiction.