Saturday - October 21 2023, 14:39 UTC - 1 year ago

New research at the University of Tokyo has found similarities between Fast Radio Bursts and earthquakes, suggesting that at least some FRBs are caused by starquakes on the surface of neutron stars. This discovery could help us better understand earthquakes, the behavior of high-density matter, and aspects of nuclear physics.

Saturday - October 21 2023, 10:14 UTC - 1 year ago

Astronomers have detected the most remote fast radio burst, lasting mere milliseconds, which was traced back 8 billion light-years away from Earth. One of the most energetic ever recorded, it emitted an amount of energy equivalent to our Sun's total emission over 30 years. The burst was found to be part of a small group of merging galaxies and confirms the Macquart relation which proposes the relation between distance and scattering of BRFs. The cause of these FRB's emission remains a topic of active research and discussion, with a recent study proposing starquakes on neutron stars as the cause.

Saturday - October 21 2023, 05:55 UTC - 1 year ago

In September 2023, a Hollywood studio hosted a emotion AI study project that trained AI to express human emotions using recordings of actors' faces, voices and movements. The project has sparked debate on the actors' rights in the age of AI as questions regarding the commercial use of their likenesses and informed consent arise.

Saturday - October 21 2023, 01:40 UTC - 1 year ago

Scientists at the Technical University of Berlin investigated whether humans social loaf when they work with robots. After testing their hypothesis, they found that when humans work with robots, they unintentionally miss errors due to not paying as much attention when they assume the robot won't miss anything. This could have serious implications for professions where humans work with robots, such as healthcare.

Friday - October 20 2023, 21:25 UTC - 1 year ago

Scientists from Oxford University, Germany, and the UK developed a new AI hardware using light to process three-dimensional (3D) data. This chip is faster and more efficient than traditional electronic chips and is expected to have even more potential with more features. It was tested on a real-world problem to detect risk from heart signals with 93.5% accuracy.

Friday - October 20 2023, 16:41 UTC - 1 year ago

Harvard research led by Yaguang Wei has found that prolonged exposure to fine airborne particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) might heighten the risk of non-lung cancers in the elderly. Study results indicated that even minimal air pollution exposure could predispose individuals to develop breast and endometrial cancers. Subgroups found to be more susceptible to air pollution exposure were those with higher average BMIs and lower socioeconomic levels in addition to racial or ethnic disparities.

Friday - October 20 2023, 11:44 UTC - 1 year ago

The US administration has introduced further regulations to limit China's access to advanced chipsets made in the US. Companies have been prohibited from selling specific chips used in supercomputing and AI to Chinese corporations. Nvidia, the world's most valuable chipmaker, was prevented from sending two of its most sophisticated AI chips to Chinese clients, but quickly created other variations for the Chinese market that were less powerful. Such export limitations are necessary to ensure that China does not use such advanced chipsets to manufacture weapons that may specifically target the US's cybersecurity initiatives. The worsening trade relations between the two superpowers has led China to restrict the export of two strategic materials in the semiconductor industry. US exports to China have lagged behind imports for China since 2020.

Friday - October 20 2023, 07:26 UTC - 1 year ago

Chalabi Baya and Slimani Yahya have developed an adaptive approach to the size of data "chunks" in cloud computing storage systems to improve efficiency considerably. This approach tailors chunk sizes dynamically based on a set of real-time metrics. Tests have shown a 24% improvement in exection times when compared with fixed chunk-sizing methods and a 96% improvement over random chunk-sizing methods.

Friday - October 20 2023, 02:33 UTC - 1 year ago

New research suggests that solar PV (photovoltaics) is likely to become the dominant power source before 2050, yet there are four 'barriers' that could hamper this: the creation of stable power grids, financing solar in developing economies, capacity of supply chains, and political resistance from regions that lose jobs. The researchers suggest that policies resolving these barriers may be more effective than carbon taxes in accelerating the clean energy transition.

Thursday - October 19 2023, 21:17 UTC - 1 year ago

CAR T, or cancer-fighting T-cells, is a revolutionary new approach to treat cancer. In a new study however, it has been discovered that bacteria can be used in a powerful tag-team therapy to fight even the most stubborn solid tumors. The engineered bugs secrete a molecule to draw in nearby CAR T soldiers that destroy tumour cells without damaging the surrounding healthy cells. CAR T has donned super-powers of sorts, and now, with the help of bacteria, cancer may be fighting a losing battle.

Thursday - October 19 2023, 16:41 UTC - 1 year ago

The new process of producing hydrogen from plastic waste created by researchers at Rice University generates no carbon emissions, while creating valuable graphene as a byproduct. This process could potentially produce hydrogen for free, while providing new possibilities for decarbonizing industry and energy storage.

Thursday - October 19 2023, 11:42 UTC - 1 year ago

Our research suggests that stereotypes about toughness may contribute to the neglect low-income women encounter when they seek help after experiencing sexual misconduct. We found that people thought the harassment and abuse would be less harmful for these women and that the women would need less help from friends and family or bystanders than their higher-income counterparts. Such perceptions may have wide-ranging consequences, as low-income women may not receive the care they need from those around them and could face greater barriers in the legal system.

Thursday - October 19 2023, 07:12 UTC - 1 year ago

For years, researchers have been studying the remarkable trait of bats to gain immunity to COVID and cancer. Recent discoveries from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientists, who sequenced the genomes of jamaican fruit bat and mesoamerican mustached bats, suggest the mammals’s resistance is all to do with their genes. They found that the bats possess interferon-alpha genes which lower the immune system's warning system and allow for high viral tolerance and even more efficient DNA repair capabilities. This may potentially lead to better medical procedures and treatments in the future.

Thursday - October 19 2023, 02:59 UTC - 1 year ago

Basic research is a type of investigation seeking to understand natural phenomena. Recent discoveries, like mRNA modifications, have enabled better vaccines and saved millions of lives. Companies investing in basic research need to consider return on investment because it often takes decades for research to be translated into a new product or technology.

Wednesday - October 18 2023, 21:50 UTC - 1 year ago

Peter Shor developed an algorithm in the mid-1990s that threatened to break the internet's security protocols. Oded Regev from the New York University has improved Shor's algorithm by incorporating techniques from cryptography, and it requires fewer quantum operations to factor large numbers than earlier algorithms. Quantum computers derive their power from qubits which can exist in both 0 and 1 states at the same time.

Wednesday - October 18 2023, 16:39 UTC - 1 year ago

Scientists have developed a three-layered artificial skin that mimics human skin with the ability to heal large wounds when transplanted into mice and pigs. The team used six different human skin cell types as "ink" to print out three-layered artificial skin. The skin grafts rapidly tapped into blood vessels from surrounding skin, integrating into the host and helping shape collagen into a structure similar to natural skin.

Wednesday - October 18 2023, 11:37 UTC - 1 year ago

A recent research study led by University of Oklahoma assistant professor Chenghao Wang and published in Nature Communications has examined the issue of how city-scale building energy consumption in urban environments will evolve under the influence of climate change. The research team studied 277 cities across the US and concluded that the city-scale building EUI (energy use intensity) will experience unequaled changes by the 2050s, with an increase in electricity EUI of 13.8% for each degree of warming on average.

Wednesday - October 18 2023, 07:09 UTC - 1 year ago

On October 14, 2023, North America was filled with darkened skies as the Moon crossed in front of the Sun, producing an annular solar eclipse. It was visible across the US, Mexico, and countries in Central & South America, with the the path of annularity from Oregon to Texas. This eclipse was nicknamed the "ring of fire" because of its red-orange ring shape. The next annular eclipse visible in the US will happen on June 21, 2039, and a total solar eclipse will take place from Texas to Maine on April 8, 2024.

Wednesday - October 18 2023, 01:59 UTC - 1 year ago

China is developing over $100 billion of new nuclear fission power. China has started operation of one CFR600, a sodium pooled generation IV fast neutron reactor, and is also planning a molten salt reactor. This project is part of the Chinese plan to reach a closed nuclear fuel cycle, and involves $350 million of start-up budget from U.S. Department of Energy and China Academy of Sciences. The reactors are expected to be connected to the grid in 2023 and 2025.