The CBETA accelerator at Cornell University, New York, is designed to recoup the energy it pours into making high-energy electron beams. Credit: Cornell University Particle physics 31 July 2020 Most linear accelerators are energy hogs, but a new model recovers waste energy that can be ploughed back into the system. Linear accelerators excel at speeding
Month: July 2020
The Air Force said the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 has passed a critical design review. WASHINGTON — L3Harris will start building a navigation satellite for the U.S. Air Force scheduled to be launched to a geosynchronous orbit in 2022. The Air Force announced July 30 that the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) on June 25 passed a
Farming is a tough business where success depends on a range of factors, including the weather. Hard frosts and flooding can be particularly damaging to those who grow crops and rear livestock, while severe droughts also have the capacity to wreak havoc. One country that’s been hit hard by drought is Zimbabwe, in southern Africa.
Mars 2020, the spaceship carrying NASA’s new rover Perseverance to the Red Planet, is experiencing technical difficulties and is running on essential systems only, the agency said Thursday. “Data indicate the spacecraft had entered a state known as safe mode, likely because a part of the spacecraft was a little colder than expected while Mars
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during the 2020 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. Brooks Kraft/Apple Inc/Handout via Reuters Apple buys a lot of smaller companies, and doesn’t talk about what it plans to do with them. However, on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook shed some
Raísa Vieira (right) is concerned about diversity losses among early-career researchers in Brazil.Credit: Raísa Vieira Years of slow improvement in diversity and inclusion in science could come undone because of the COVID-19 crisis. In a June letter to Nature Ecology and Evolution1, 19 researchers from around the world warned that job losses during the pandemic
WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle developer Astra says it’s ready for an orbital launch attempt as soon as Aug. 2, but warns that it’s “pretty unlikely” that launch will actually achieve orbit. Astra’s Rocket 3.1 vehicle is in final preparations for a launch from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska on Kodiak Island. The company is
Plenty of prognostications, including this one from the World Economic Forum, tout the integral role artificial intelligence could play in “saving the planet.” Indeed, AI is integral to all manner of technologies, ranging from autonomous vehicles to more informed disaster response systems to smart buildings and data collection networks monitoring everything from energy consumption to
An electron tree. (Courtesy: NPL) 1. The image above shows an electron tree. But which piece of medical physics equipment was used to create this striking pattern?A. An MRI scanner B. A linear accelerator C. An infrared laser D. An X-ray CT system 2. Marie Curie’s laboratory notebooks are so radioactive that they must be stored in lead-lined boxes.
Deep-sea angler fish have a bizarre reproductive strategy, compared to other animals. This reproductive strategy costs them their acquired immune functions, yet they are thriving, giving new hope to human patients who have inborn or acquired immune disorders. The males, guided by pheromone and lights from the female’s bioluminescent lure, find their mates. Once they have
A Monzo debit card being used at a payment terminal. Monzo British digital bank Monzo said Thursday that its annual losses more than doubled and warned its ability to continue operating had become more uncertain due to the coronavirus pandemic. The start-up reported an annual post-tax loss of £113.8 million ($149.5 million) in its 2020
A new porous material takes a leaf out of the book of Tillandsia plants (above), which pull water from the air rather than the soil. Credit: Scott Varley/MediaNews Group/Getty Materials science 30 July 2020 A curious gel can soak up water vapour from the air and swell to enormous size without bursting. Inspired by ‘air
WASHINGTON — The first Proton launch of the year took place July 30 carrying two satellites for the Russian Satellite Communications Company. Proton lifted off at 5:25 p.m. Eastern from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on an 18-hour mission to deploy the geostationary satellites, Express-80 and Express-103, according to Roscosmos. The launch was originally scheduled
Carl Court | AFP | Getty Images Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported a sharp drop in net profit for the three months through to the end of June, following an unprecedented period of energy market turmoil and significantly weaker oil and gas prices. The Anglo-Dutch company reported adjusted earnings of $638 million
Safe distance: supernova SN 1987A as seen by the ESO Schmidt Telescope. Located 168,000 light-years away, the object could be seen with the unaided eye but posed no danger to Earth. (Courtesy: ESO) The explosion of a nearby star could have caused a mass extinction that occurred long ago on Earth. That is the conclusion
If you’ve driven through an area where companies extract oil and gas from shale formations, you’ve probably seen flames dancing at the tops of vertical pipes. That’s flaring – the mostly uncontrolled practice of burning off a byproduct of oil and gas production. Over the past 10 years, the U.S. shale oil and gas boom
David Wehner, CFO at Facebook. Harriet Taylor | CNBC Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Wehner said on Thursday that upcoming changes to Apple’s iOS 14 operating system could hurt the social network’s ability to target ads to users. With the update to its mobile devices, Apple will ask users if they want to let app
Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here NASA’s Perseverance rover takes off for Mars aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.Credit: Joel Kowsky/NASA The biggest, most complex rover ever sent to Mars is now on its
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on July 30 approved Amazon’s request to operate a constellation of roughly 3,200 internet satellites in low Earth orbit. The FCC said Amazon has until July 30, 2026 to launch at least 50% of its satellites in order to maintain its authorization, and until July 30, 2029 to
Nearly a decade ago, as we took in the lush plant life, clean air and warm sunshine surrounding us during a vacation in Hawaii, my wife, Danielle, and I knew a life shift was happening. A connection to the land — this island — was built on that trip, leading us to relocate permanently to
NASA’s next-generation Mars rover Perseverance blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Thursday atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a $2.4 billion (roughly Rs. 17,974 crores) mission to search for traces of potential past life on Earth’s planetary neighbor. The next-generation robotic rover – a car-sized six-wheeled scientific vehicle – also is scheduled to deploy
Five and half hours of testimony with four of the most powerful CEOs in the world. Lots of shouting. The richest man on the planet forgot to unmute before speaking on a video call. What’d we learn during the Big Tech CEO hearing on Wednesday? Next to nothing. But luckily for us, even if much
How long does a particle take to quantum-mechanically tunnel through a barrier? Physicists have pondered this question since tunnelling was first identified 90 years ago. In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, Aephraim Steinberg of the University of Toronto explains how his team used the spins of ultracold atoms to measure how long
Particles of a coronavirus, seen under a transmission electron microscope.Credit: AMI Images/Science Photo Library Virologists are debating whether to establish a system for naming virus species later this year. Some researchers say that the current way viruses are named is disorganized and that there is an urgent need for a standardized system. But others say
WASHINGTON — NASA’s most sophisticated Mars rover yet is on its way to the red planet after a successful launch July 30. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:50 a.m. Eastern. The liftoff took place on schedule with no issues
Wind turbine from different perspective. fernando arias | Moment | Getty Images A consortium made up of Shell and Eneco is to develop an offshore wind farm that will incorporate a range of “technology demonstrations” including floating solar and hydrogen produced by electrolysis. The 759 megawatt (MW) Hollandse Kust (noord) facility will be subsidy free
The eel is very mysterious, and among its strange but fascinating attributes is how it engages in sex only during its last year of life, and only in a single place: the Sargasso Sea. For centuries, nobody could determine how they reproduced or where. No one knew if there were male and female sexes. Only
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on July 07, 2020 shows (L-R) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Paris on May 23, 2018, Google CEO Sundar Pichai Berlin on January 22, 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook on October 28, 2019 in New York and Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in Las Vegas, Nevada on June
Generation of DNase I hypersensitivity maps DNase I assays were generally performed according to a protocol detailed previously42. This protocol involves treatment of intact nuclei with the small enzyme DNase I which is able to penetrate the nuclear pore and cleave exposed DNA. Small (<1 kb) fragments are isolated from lysed nuclei following DNase I
WASHINGTON — Spanish startup Sateliot on July 28 selected Open Cosmos to build and operate a constellation of up to 100 small satellites, but stopped short of a firm contract for the full system. Sateliot is raising funds to build the constellation, designed to connect sensors and devices from low-Earth orbit. The company has raised
Cargill, the giant food and ag conglomerate, last week announced a new set of 2030 corporate water targets, the latest to do so among firms in its sector. But this was no me-too kind of endeavor. Rather, it put the company at the front of the pack, going well beyond its own operational footprint to
Taken from the July 2020 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. What skills do you use every day in your job? Primarily I use maths, mostly specialized techniques that build on what I learned during my PhD, but on occasion there’s
Zebrafish are one of the most well studied animals on the planet. But how they came by their beautiful black and gold stripes is more of a mystery. Our new research used mathematical modelling – and detailed observations of mutant zebrafish patterns – to get to the bottom of one of nature’s oldest secrets. Estimates suggest
Cell lines Cell lines were purchased from ATCC and were not formally authenticated, but confirmation of expected gene expression patterns were performed for RNA-seq and eCLIP experiments. Cell lines were routinely tested for mycoplasma contamination (MycoAlert, Lonza). RNA-binding protein annotations and domains RBPs were chosen from a previously described list of 1,072 known RBPs, proteins
Maj. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Maj. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Maj. Gen. William Liquori and Maj. Gen. Nina Armagno have been nominated to receive a third star. WASHINGTON — President Trump on July 28 submitted to the U.S. Senate the nominations of four U.S. Space Force major generals for promotion to lieutenant general. The nominations will
South Belridge Oil Field is the fourth-largest oil field in California and one of the most productive in the U.S. David McNew | Getty Images Oil prices rose on Wednesday after an industry report showed that crude inventories in the United States fell against expectations, giving the market a boost amid record increases of coronavirus
The CEOs from four of the largest tech companies are testifying in front of the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust Wednesday. It’s the first time all four executives, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai, have testified together. It’s Bezos’ first time ever testifying before Congress. Below you can
China’s first Mars probe has beamed back a photo of the Earth and the Moon as it heads toward its destination, the country’s space agency said Tuesday. The image, which shows the two celestial bodies as small crescents in the empty darkness of space, was taken 1.2 million km away from Earth three days after
Ella Balasa inhales a phage treatment at Winchester Chest Clinic in New Haven, Connecticut.Credit: Richard Drew/Associated Press/Shutterstock After more than a decade of drug-resistant infections, Ella Balasa’s options were running out. The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa — common in people with cystic fibrosis — had taken up long-term residence in Balasa’s lungs, eating away at the
WASHINGTON — NASA and the European Space Agency expect to spend at least $7 billion to collect samples of Mars and return them to Earth, a process that will start with the impending launch of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. Mars 2020 will deliver to the surface of Mars a rover named Perseverance, whose primary mission
Photographs and sketches of observed experimental particle release events. The microbubbles are covered with 0.5 μm polystyrene particles and held in an acoustic trap. (Courtesy: Diego Baresch, Institut de Mécanique et d’Ingénierie de Bordeaux (CNRS/Université de Bordeaux/Arts et Métiers Paristech/Bordeaux INP)) Researchers at Imperial College London, UK have demonstrated for the first time that microscopic bubbles
The world’s biggest automakers are ramping up their carbon commitments even as they struggle to build back in the wake of the pandemic. This week, Germany’s BMW took the plunge and set a goal to reduce its carbon emissions per car by at least one-third by 2030. Like its peers, BMW plans to reach those targets through a combination of
Thursday will be a day like none other for tech investors. Four of the five most valuable U.S. companies — Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook — are set to report quarterly results after the closing bell. Those companies, worth almost $5 trillion in combined market cap, have led the stock market to record levels this month
Two recent studies looked into how the ovarian function in mice responded to various levels of glyphosate exposure. Glyphosate is a chemical commonly used to control weeds. Previous studies also indicate the effect of the chemical in mice and its presence on the food and environment. The study revealed that the mice exposed to high levels of
Researchers are questioning why Donald Trump chose to remove COVID-19 data management from the CDC and transfer it to the federal government.Credit: Tom Brenner/Reuters As deaths from COVID-19 approach 150,000 in the United States and cases continue to rise alarmingly in many regions of the country, there are strong signs that the government is suppressing
Dickinson said “norms of behavior” should be established for space domain. WASHINGTON — The United States has to work with other countries to establish “norms of behavior in space,” Army Lt. Gen. James Dickinson told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a July 28 confirmation hearing to be the next commander of U.S. Space Command.
Cyclists travel in a cycle lane along the Embankment in central London on May 16, 2020. JUSTIN TALLIS | AFP | Getty Images U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has unveiled plans for a “cycling and walking revolution” that, if fully realized, could recalibrate the way people move around towns and cities. The move comes as
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on October 02, 2019. Elif Ozturk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will finally come face to face with lawmakers looking to question his company’s growing influence at Wednesday’s antitrust hearing. The hearing before the House Antitrust Subcommittee, which will be held over videoconference because of the coronavirus
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