Tag: science

Hunt for Element 120 Underway as Team Confirms First Creation of Element 116 Using Titanium Beam

In a physics first, scientists at Berkeley Lab have succeeded at creating element 116 using a titanium beam, a development that could set the pace for the creation of heavier elements, including the long-theorized element 120.

The achievement brings scientists closer than ever to creating the heaviest atom ever created by physicists, believed to represent an “island of stability” amid superheavy elements.

With the discovery of 16 of the 118 elements currently known already under its belt, Berkeley Lab’s breakthrough marks a significant step toward bringing such hypothetical elements into existence.

The Hunt for Element 120

Formally known as unbinilium or Ubn, its temporary systematic IUPAC name and symbol, the theorized element 120 (also known by the nickname eka-radium), if officially discovered, would claim its place on the 8th row of the periodic table. For now, the theorized superheavy element is believed to represent an alkaline earth metal or s-block element.

Superheavy elements generally have short lifespans since they have large and very unstable nuclei capable of ripping themselves apart within just seconds of their creation. The instability arises from their size, which results in protons with positive charges within the nuclei repelling each other.

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Energy Scientists Invent Device That Draws Electricity Out of Thin Air

A team of scientists from the University of Singapore has announced the creation of a prototype energy-harvesting device that draws usable electricity seemingly out of thin air.

Designed to leverage nanoscale spin rectifier technology to capture what the device’s inventors term “waste RF” signals that exist in the air due to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5G, and traditional radio signals, the novel energy harvesting system can convert those signals into enough usable direct current (DC) electrical energy.

Similar RF energy harvesting technologies have been developed in recent years, including one invented by researchers from the University of South Florida. However, the team behind this latest iteration says their device is able to capture energy from weaker overall signals (typically less than -20 dBm) than even the most sensitive RF energy harvesting technology.

“Harvesting ambient RF electromagnetic signals is crucial for advancing energy-efficient electronic devices and sensors,” explained project leader Professor Yang Hyunsoo from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the NUS College of Design and Engineering. “However, existing Energy Harvesting Modules face challenges operating at low ambient power due to limitations in existing rectifier technology.”

To overcome the limitations of similar devices, including the inefficiencies of converting such weak signals into useful electricity, the team developed their own ultra-compact, nanoscale spin rectifier technology to capture and convert the waste RF. Unlike previous attempts, this minuscule rectifier showed impressive results at converting RF signals below -20 dBm.

According to Professor Yang, his team’s efforts to improve energy harvesting at these low levels were drastically different from previous efforts. That’s mainly because of the implementation of nanoscale spin rectifiers.

“Recent efforts focused only on improving antenna efficiency and impedance-matching networks at the expense of bigger on-chip footprints,” the professor explained. “Nanoscale spin-rectifiers, on the other hand, offer a compact technology for sensitive and efficient RF-to-DC conversion.”

After trying several configurations designed to convert energy from different low yet usable EM wavelengths, the team settled on something that operated at a level of efficiency previously unseen. This result, the team explains, was due to their approach as much as the technology itself. The result was a device that successfully captured low levels of RF and converted them to enough electricity to power an electrical sensor and an LED.

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CHINA DETECTS WATER IN SAMPLES IT COLLECTED FROM THE MOON

Scientists have discovered traces of water while analyzing lunar soil samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 rover.

While NASA already announced the discovery of water on the Moon’s sunlit areas back in 2020, the new research suggests that water can take on even more forms than previously thought on the lunar surface.

As detailed in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the samples “revealed the presence of trace water,” tantalizing evidence that “water molecules can persist in sunlit areas of the moon in the form of hydrated salts.”

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Lesser-Known Marijuana Components Can Be ‘Promising Anticancer Agents,’ Study On Multiple Myeloma Finds

A new study on the possible therapeutic value of lesser-known compounds in cannabis says that a number of minor cannabinoids may have anticancer effects on blood cancer that warrant further study.

The research, published in the journal BioFactors, looked at minor cannabinoids and multiple myeloma (MM), testing responses in cell models to the cannabinoids CBG, CBC, CBN and CBDV as well as studying CBN in a mouse model.

“Together, our results suggest that CBG, CBC, CBN, and CBDV can be promising anticancer agents for MM,” authors wrote, “due to their cytotoxic effect on MM cell lines and, for CBN, in in vivo xenograft mouse model of MM.”

They also noted the cannabinoids’ apparently “beneficial effect on the bone in terms of reduction of MM cells invasion toward the bone and bone resorption (mainly CBG and CBN).”

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SCIENTISTS LOCATE MYSTERIOUS ‘DARK OXYGEN’ ON THE OCEAN FLOOR IN BAFFLING DISCOVERY THAT CHALLENGES IDEAS ON LIFE’S ORIGINS

Scientists have discovered metallic minerals on the deep ocean floor that produce “dark oxygen,” according to findings presented in a new study that potentially upend past assumptions that our planet’s oxygen is produced solely by photosynthetic organisms.

The discovery, made at a depth of 13,000 feet below the ocean surface, shows that oxygen can be produced even in the complete darkness of Earth’s sea bottoms. The new findings could potentially challenge our current understanding of the origins of aerobic life on Earth.

THE DISCOVERY OF ‘DARK OXYGEN’

“For aerobic life to begin on the planet, there had to be oxygen, and our understanding has been that Earth’s oxygen supply began with photosynthetic organisms,” said Andrew Sweetman of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), who made the groundbreaking discovery while sampling the seabed of a mountainous submarine ridge in the Pacific Ocean known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

“But we now know that there is oxygen produced in the deep sea, where there is no light,” Sweetman added.

According to Sweetman and his colleagues, the key to the discovery involves polymetallic nodules, natural mineral deposits on the ocean floor. These nodules, some of which can be as small as tiny sand grains and others as large as a baseball, are composed of metals such as cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, and nickel, all of which are critical for battery production.

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NASA built a Moon rover but can’t afford to get it to the launch pad

NASA has spent $450 million designing and building a first-of-its-kind robot to drive into eternally dark craters at the Moon’s south pole, but the agency announced Wednesday it will cancel the rover due to delays and cost overruns.

“NASA intends to discontinue the VIPER mission,” said Nicky Fox, head of the agency’s science mission directorate. “Decisions like this are never easy, and we haven’t made this one, in any way, lightly. In this case, the projected remaining expenses for VIPER would have resulted in either having to cancel or disrupt many other missions in our Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) line.”

NASA has terminated science missions after development delays and cost overruns before, but it’s rare to cancel a mission with a spacecraft that is already built.

The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission was supposed to be a robotic scout for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface in the next few years. VIPER was originally planned to launch in late 2023 and was slated to fly to the Moon aboard a commercial lander provided by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, which won a contract from NASA in 2020 to deliver the VIPER rover to the lunar surface. Astrobotic is one of 14 companies in the pool of contractors for NASA’s CLPS program, with the goal of transporting government-sponsored science payloads to the Moon.

But VIPER has been delayed at least two years—the most recent schedule projected a launch in September 2025—causing its cost to grow from $433 million to more than $609 million. The ballooning costs automatically triggered a NASA review to determine whether to proceed with the mission or cancel it. Ultimately, officials said they determined NASA couldn’t pay the extra costs for VIPER without affecting other Moon missions.

“Therefore, we’ve made the decision to forego this particular mission, the VIPER mission, in order to be able to sustain the entire program,” Fox said.

“We’re disappointed,” said John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic. “It’s certainly difficult news… VIPER has been a great team to work with, and we’re disappointed we won’t get the chance to fly them to the Moon.”

NASA said it will consider “expressions of interest” submitted by US industry and international partners by August 1 for use of the existing VIPER rover at no cost to the government. If NASA can’t find anyone to take over VIPER who can pay to get it to the Moon, the agency plans to disassemble the rover and harvest instruments and components for future lunar missions.

Scientists were dismayed by VIPER’s cancellation.

“It’s absurd, to be honest with you,” said Clive Neal, a planetary geologist at the University of Notre Dame. “It made no sense to me in terms of the economics. You’re canceling a mission that is complete, built, ready to go. It’s in the middle of testing.”

“This is a bad mistake,” wrote Phil Metzger, a planetary physicist at the University of Central Florida, in a post on X. “This was the premier mission to measure lateral and vertical variations of lunar ice in the soil. It would have been revolutionary. Other missions don’t replace what is lost here.”

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REAL LIFE TRACTOR BEAMS? GAME-CHANGING NEW TECHNOLOGY COULD LEAD TO NON-INVASIVE MEDICAL PROCEDURES

Tractor beams, a technology once relegated to science fiction, could soon become a practical reality with the help of recent advancements in metasurface research.

Under development by researchers with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS), the new technology represents “an important first step in the development of metasurface-enabled tractor beams,” which the TMOS team says will be capable of reeling in particles using rays of light.

The science fiction counterparts to this emergent real-life technology have been depicted in films that include Star Wars, where such previously imaginary devices are used to prevent objects such as spacecraft from moving or evading capture.

While real-life tractor beams are still far from matching the power of their fictional analogs, the TMOS researchers say their development of the game-changing new technology draws inspiration from such once-imaginary concepts.

“This work opens new possibilities for using light to exert forces on tiny objects,” said Ken Crozier, the Chief Investigator of the recent research.

MAKING TRACTOR BEAMS A REALITY

The team, led by researchers at the University of Melbourne, reports the creation of a solenoid beam that relies on a special silicon metasurface to generate it.

Solenoid beams have been developed in the past, although these earlier designs mostly rely on devices known as special light modulators, or SLMs. The size of these devices has imposed a limiting factor on their potential use, particularly in handheld applications.

In the team’s new research, outlined in a study that recently appeared in ACS Photonics, they describe the special metasurface developed for their tractor beam technology as an extremely thin (about 1/2000 of a millimeter) layer of nanopatterned silicon, which they believe may one day help to facilitate handheld devices that will allow surgeons to conduct non-invasive biopsies on patients, which would result in less damage to surrounding tissues than current methods.

At the heart of the technology is the understanding that forces exerted by beams of light have the effect of displacing particles, which are moved further from the light source with their passage. However, past research has shown that solenoid beams can draw particles toward their light source, similar to how the grooves in a drill allow the material it cuts into to be pulled upward.

The TMOS researchers say their beam has a few significant advantages over past designs, allowing it to be more flexible and capable of functioning without any need for an SLM. Additionally, its size makes it far more useful in practical, handheld designs while also requiring less power than existing varieties.

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NASA SCIENTIST SAYS PATENTED ‘EXODUS EFFECT’ PROPELLANTLESS PROPULSION DRIVE THAT DEFIES PHYSICS IS READY TO GO TO SPACE

A patented experimental propellantless propulsion drive is finally ready to go to space, according to its inventor, a veteran NASA scientist with decades of expertise in electrostatics.

Dr. Charles Buhler, the technology’s creator, says the propulsion system may represent a working version of Quantized Inertia, a theory first proposed by University of Plymouth professor Mike McCulloch. The proposition has been subjected to criticism from mainstream scientists in the past because it seemingly violates Newton’s third law of motion.

The controversial technology, which The Debrief covered in April, is privately owned by Exodus Propulsion Technologies and is not affiliated with NASA.

After almost a decade of research, design, and testing, Buhler says he and his team are confident they have verified the force, one his team calls the Exodus Effect(TM), in “nearly every way conceivable on Earth.” The final step required to officially demonstrate the validity of their discovery is to send the propulsion drive unit into space.

“We’ve done everything we could have in vacuum chambers here on Earth. We’ve tested it every which way you can, but the real validation is to have this thing move in space,” Buhler told The Debrief in a lengthy interview. “That’s the bottom line.”

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Your brain on shrooms — how psilocybin resets neural networks

Taking psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms, temporarily resets entire networks of neurons in the brain that are responsible for controlling a person’s sense of time and self, finds a study that repeatedly imaged the brains of seven volunteers before, during and after they took a massive dose of the drug.

The findings, published in Nature on 17 July1, could offer insights into why the compound might have a therapeutic effect on some neurological conditions.

Researchers “saw such massive changes induced by psilocybin” that some study participants’ brain-network patterns resembled those of a different person entirely, says Shan Siddiqi, a psychiatric neuroscientist at Harvard School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. “I’ve never seen an effect this strong.”

Most of these changes lasted for a few hours, but one key link between different parts of the brain remained disrupted for weeks.

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NASA RADAR DATA CONFIRMS EXISTENCE OF SUBSURFACE “TUNNEL” NEAR FAMOUS APOLLO-ERA LUNAR LANDING SITE

For the first time, scientists have confirmed the existence of an underground tunnel-like feature near the landing site of the first crewed mission to the Moon. The discovery concludes almost half a century of speculation involving the suspected existence of caves below the lunar surface.

On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface after making a soft landing in the Apollo 11 Lunar Module on the mare plain of the Moon’s famous Mare Tranquillitatis, Latin for “Sea of Tranquility.”

Now, according to the findings of an international team of researchers led by the University of Trento in Italy, the existence of a subsurface tunnel-like lava tube cave beneath the Mare Plain has been confirmed.

A new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy revealed the discovery, which relied on data obtained with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

The discovery of the tunnel-like feature has been called a significant milestone toward understanding the Moon’s various geological components more fully. It also offers a potential shelter area that could be used by astronauts during future crewed missions.

Lorenzo Bruzzone, a professor at the University of Trento, said the existence of such underground features had long been suspected, although the team’s discovery is the first confirmation that they exist.

“These caves have been theorized for over 50 years,” Bruzzone said in a statement, “but it is the first time ever that we have demonstrated their existence.”

Data originally obtained in 2010 by the Miniature Radio-Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument aboard the LRO, which included radar reflections from a pit discovered in the Mare Tranquilitatis, were reexamined by the research team.

“Thanks to the analysis of the data, we were able to create a model of a portion of the conduit,” said Leonardo Carrer, a researcher at the University of Trento involved with the new findings.

“The most likely explanation for our observations is an empty lava tube,” Carrer said.

Given the demanding environment on the surface of the Moon, where temperatures can reach as much as 127°C on its illuminated side while dropping to frigid lows nearing -173°C on the unilluminated side, lava tube caves could be ideal locations for astronauts to use as shelters on the Moon.

In addition to being ideal environments for subsurface shelters, such an underground tunnel-like feature could also provide a degree of shielding from cosmic and solar radiation that bombards the lunar surface, which can be up to 150 times more powerful there than on Earth.

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