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Apr 19, 2023

‘Condensed battery’ could power aircraft

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

The energy per unit mass of 500 Wh/kg is twice that of typical Li-ion batteries. In addition to doubling the range of EVs, this could enable longer-haul electrified aviation.


Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) has today launched a new ‘condensed battery’ with up to 500 Wh/kg. This ultra-high energy density could enable the electrification of passenger aircraft.

Apr 19, 2023

Why we can still avoid imminent extinction with Daniel Schmachtenberger

Posted by in categories: existential risks, governance

Some of Daniel Schmarchtenberger’s friends say you can be “Schmachtenberged”. It means realising that we are on our way to self-destruction as a civilisation, on a global level. This is a topic often addressed by the American philosopher and strategist, in a world with powerful weapons and technologies and a lack of efficient governance. But, as the catastrophic script has already started to be written, is there still hope? And how do we start reversing the scenario?

Apr 19, 2023

Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed

Posted by in category: neuroscience

In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the brain. Geometry may explain why.

Apr 19, 2023

How Advances in Technology Are Addressing Access for Those With Disabilities

Posted by in category: business

Rapid advancements in technology have made the world of business and travel more accessible to people with physical disabilities.


Braille e-readers, voice recognition, text-to-speech, screen readers„ and word predictive software are among the tech tools available.

Apr 19, 2023

Cardiovascular disease: People who’ve had cancer may have higher risk

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Researchers say previous cases of cancer, in particular blood and breast cancer, can increase a person’s risk of developing heart disease. There are lifestyle changes that can lower that risk.

Apr 19, 2023

SpaceX Launches Upgraded Starlink Satellites After Issues with First Batch

Posted by in categories: internet, satellites

SpaceX just did their second launch of V2 Mini satellites. Their first launch was two months ago and some satellites were lost as their new tech didn’t work on all satellites. Well, SpaceX has solved the bugs, and launched a second batch. Once the bugs are 100% solved, all future Starlink launches will only contain these new satellites.

These higher capacity satellites service about 33% more customers per pound of satellite than the V1.5 Starlink satellites.

Continue reading “SpaceX Launches Upgraded Starlink Satellites After Issues with First Batch” »

Apr 19, 2023

New exoplanet seen via direct imaging

Posted by in category: space

The discovery of HIP 99,770 b, a new exoplanet located 133 light years away, is reported in the journal Science. A team of astronomers used a new detection method that combines direct imaging with astrometry.

As of today, there are 5,363 confirmed exoplanets in 3,960 planetary systems. However, only a handful have been seen via direct imaging. Exoplanets are extremely faint compared with their parent stars, making it difficult to spot them in visible light.

Apr 19, 2023

Could Aluminum Nitride Produce Quantum Bits?

Posted by in categories: encryption, quantum physics, supercomputing

Quantum computers have the potential to break common cryptography techniques, search huge datasets and simulate quantum systems in a fraction of the time it would take today’s computers. But before this can happen, engineers need to be able to harness the properties of quantum bits or qubits.

Currently, one of the leading methods for creating qubits in materials involves exploiting the structural atomic defects in diamond. But several researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory believe that if an analogue defect could be engineered into a less expensive material, the cost of manufacturing quantum technologies could be significantly reduced. Using supercomputers at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), which is located at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), these researchers have identified a possible candidate in aluminum nitride. Their findings were published in Nature Scientific Reports.

“Silicon semiconductors are reaching their physical limits—it’ll probably happen within the next five to 10 years—but if we can implement qubits into semiconductors, we will be able to move beyond silicon,” says Hosung Seo, University of Chicago Postdoctoral Researcher and a first author of the paper.

Apr 19, 2023

OpenAI’s FIRST Robot SHOCKS the World | ChatGPT

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

What if I told you Open AI had a new robot coming out infused with ChatGPT? Well, they do.

If you like this content, please consider subscribing, as we can be your one stop shop to satisfy your AI needs! We have all the scoops on the world’s latest artificial intelligence projects!

Continue reading “OpenAI’s FIRST Robot SHOCKS the World | ChatGPT” »

Apr 19, 2023

Inspired by the sea and the sky, a biologist invents a new kind of microscope

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Enter Fabian Voigt, a molecular biologist at Harvard University and inventor of the new design. He was reading a book about animal vision when he encountered the odd case of scallops’ eyes. Unlike most animals, whose eyes feature retinas that send images to the brain, scallops have mantles covered with hundreds of tiny blue dots, each of which contains a curved mirror at its back. As light passes through each eye’s lens, its inner mirror reflects the light back onto the creature’s photoreceptors to create an image that then allows the scallop to respond to its environment.

An amateur astronomer since he was a teenager, Voigt realized the scallop’s eye design resembled a kind of telescope invented nearly 100 years ago called the Schmidt telescope. The Kepler Space Telescope, which orbits Earth, uses a similar curved mirror design to magnify far-away light from exoplanets. Voigt realized that by shrinking the mirror, using lasers for light, and filling the space between the mirror and the detector with liquid to minimize light scattering, the design could be adapted to fit inside a microscope.

So, Voigt and colleagues built a prototype based on those specs. Light enters from the top, passes through a curved plate that corrects for the mirror’s curvature, then bounces off a mirror to hit a sample and magnify it. The curved mirror can magnify the image much like a lens, Voigt says. It allows researchers to look at samples suspended in any kind of liquid, simplifying the process. Voigt says the design could be particularly useful for researchers who study organs or even entire organisms, such as mice or embryos, that have been made completely transparent by artificially removing their pigment.