Science & TechnologyS


Nuke

China unveils world's 1st meltdown-proof nuclear reactor with 105 MW capacity

Ameya Paleja
Interesting Engineering
Mon, 22 Jul 2024 13:20 UTC
HTR-PM Nuclear reactor
© CellThe commercial scale High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor Pebble-Bed Module (HTR-PM) in Shandong, China
In a global first, researchers at Tsinghua University in China have successfully demonstrated a meltdown-proof nuclear fission reactor. The twin reactor design can generate 105 MW of power each and has been in the works since 2016. The technology is a welcome step for the nuclear energy industry after the meltdown at Fukushima in Japan more than a decade ago.

During nuclear fission, large amounts of heat energy are generated, which is useful in generating electricity but is also a risk for the reaction. Nuclear reactors are designed with in-built cooling mechanisms that take the heat away from the reaction, failing which the reactor can overheat or even explode.

Typically, the cooling mechanisms use water or carbon as cooling agents and are backed by external power supplies to ensure that the reactor temperature stays within control. In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear reactor experienced a rare event in which the standard and emergency power supply to the cooling mechanism failed, leading to a meltdown.

Researchers have since pushed to build a nuclear reactor that is passively cooled and uses natural cooling methods. One such design is a high-temperature reactor with a pebble-bed module (HTR — PM).
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Magnify

Dogs can smell human stress — and it alters their own behavior, study reveals


NY Post
Mon, 22 Jul 2024 19:38 UTC
doggie
© University of Bristol / SWNS
Dogs can smell human stress — and it alters their own behavior, reveals new research.

Our four-legged friends experience "emotional contagion" from the smell of human stress — leading them to make more 'pessimistic' choices, say scientists.

The University of Bristol-led study is the first to test how human stress odors affect dogs' learning and emotional states.

Previous evidence in humans suggests that the smell of a stressed person subconsciously affects the emotions and choices made by others near them.

Bristol Veterinary School researchers wanted to know whether dogs also experience changes in their learning and emotional state in response to human stress or relaxation odours.
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Telescope

Astronomical analysis methods useful for detecting AI 'deepfake' faces

Sarah Wild
Nature
Tue, 23 Jul 2024 19:27 UTC
ai deep fake face deepfake
© Stu Gray/AlamyDeepfake images and videos can be used to spread misinformation.
Analysing reflections of light in the eyes can help to determine an image's authenticity.

Researchers are turning to techniques from astronomy to help spot computer-generated 'deepfake' images — which can look identical to genuine photographs at first glance.

By analysing images of faces using methods that are usually used to survey distant galaxies, astronomers can measure how a person's eyes reflect light, which can reveal telltale signs of image manipulation.

"It's not a silver bullet, because we do have false positives and false negatives," says Kevin Pimbblet, director of the Centre of Excellence for Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling at the University of Hull, UK, who presented the research at the UK Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting on 15 July. "But this research provides a potential method, an important way forward, perhaps to add to the battery of tests that one can apply to try to figure out if an image is real or fake."
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Fish

'Dark oxygen' produced by metals on deep-ocean floor, study finds

Nina Massey
Independent
Tue, 23 Jul 2024 06:23 UTC
Coral Reef
© NOAADeep Coral Reef (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
Metals on the deep-ocean floor produce 'dark oxygen' 13,000 feet below the surface, a new study has suggested.

The finding challenges long-held assumptions that only photosynthetic organisms - those which use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to create fuel and oxygen - such as plants and algae generate Earth's oxygen.

It may even call into question how life on Earth began.

The study indicates oxygen also can be produced on the seafloor, where no light reaches, in order to support the oxygen-breathing (aerobic) sea life living in complete darkness.

Andrew Sweetman, of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), made the "dark oxygen" discovery while conducting ship-based fieldwork in the Pacific Ocean.

He said: "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.
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Magnet

Nuclear fusion experiment hits new record for magnet strength

Tim De Chant
TechCrunch
Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:34 UTC
plamsa strongest magnetic field new record
© Mason Yu/University of Wisconsin-MadisonPlasma held in the WHAM experimental fusion reactor. Plasma held in the WHAM experimental reactor lasted only a fraction of a second, but it was enough to set a record.
A nuclear fusion experiment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has set a record for the strongest steady magnetic field confining a plasma, ushering in new hope that forthcoming demonstration reactors will deliver on their promises to produce more power than they consume.

The new magnets came from Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a pioneering startup in the fusion industry which delivered the devices to UW-Madison's WHAM experiment earlier this month. Once the WHAM team chilled the magnets down to operating temperature and applied a strong electrical current, the high-temperature superconductors produced a 17 tesla magnetic field. That's more than twice as powerful as high-resolution MRI scanners use to image the human brain.
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Mars

Curiosity Rover discovers trove of yellow crystals on Mars

Passant Rabie
Gixmodo
Fri, 19 Jul 2024 20:34 UTC
curiousity rover mars sulfer crystals
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSA cracked-open rock revealed yellow crystals of sulfur on the Martian surface.
This is the first time pure sulfur has been found on the Red Planet.

For nearly 10 years, NASA's four-wheeled robot has been climbing the foothills of Mount Sharp, a tall mountain on Mars that stands above an ancient crater, uncovering mysteries with each of its layers. In its latest discovery, the Martian explorer stumbled upon a field of rocks made of pure sulfur, a chemical element that could hold precious clues to the Red Planet's watery past.

The Curiosity rover recently drove over a rock, accidentally cracking it open. Inside were shiny yellow crystals, which scientists later determined to be elemental sulfur, NASA said. Although sulfur-based minerals (a mix of sulfur with other materials) have been found on Mars before, this is the first discovery of rocks made of pure sulfur. And there could be a whole bunch of them on Mars, but scientists aren't sure how they formed.
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Lightning

SOTT Focus: Crowdstrike Causes Global IT Outage: Incompetence or Spooky Shenanigans?

Scott Ogrin
scottiestech.info
Sat, 20 Jul 2024 19:04 UTC
scottie tech crowdstrike
© scottiestech.info
The global IT outage on Friday, July 19th 2024 was a humdinger.

We're told it's nothing to worry about, but what's really going on?

I'm afraid the rabbit hole goes a bit deeper than you think.

Join me for a look at the Crowdstrike "bug" and what it means for you...

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Jupiter

Astronomers spot a highly "eccentric" planet on its way to becoming a hot Jupiter

Jennifer Chu
MIT News
Wed, 17 Jul 2024 17:39 UTC
exoplanet otential jupiter hot planet
© NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da SilvaArtist’s impression showing a Jupiter-like exoplanet that is on its way to becoming a hot Jupiter — a large, Jupiter-like exoplanet that orbits very close to its star.
The planet's wild orbit offers clues to how such large, hot planets take shape.

Hot Jupiters are some of the most extreme planets in the galaxy. These scorching worlds are as massive as Jupiter, and they swing wildly close to their star, whirling around in a few days compared to our own gas giant's leisurely 4,000-day orbit around the sun.

Scientists suspect, though, that hot Jupiters weren't always so hot and in fact may have formed as "cold Jupiters," in more frigid, distant environs. But how they evolved to be the star-hugging gas giants that astronomers observe today is a big unknown.

Now, astronomers at MIT, Penn State University, and elsewhere have discovered a hot Jupiter "progenitor" — a sort of juvenile planet that is in the midst of becoming a hot Jupiter. And its orbit is providing some answers to how hot Jupiters evolve.
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Sun

Top study confirms carbon dioxide has zero impact on 'global warming'

Frank Bergman
Slay News
Sat, 13 Jul 2024 11:53 UTC
bill gates john kerry wef
A major new study has debunked the narrative that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from human activity is causing so-called "global warming."

The study, published in Science Direct, confirms what "climate scientists" should have told the public a long time ago.

The warming effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is naturally limited, according to the new study.

In fact, that limit has already been reached, decades ago.

The study found that carbon dioxide emissions have zero impact on the Earth's global temperatures.
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Roses

Mushrooms are helping to turn toxic 'brownfields' into blooming meadows

Andy Corbley
Good News Network
Tue, 16 Jul 2024 18:48 UTC
mushrooms brownfield toxic reclamation
© Danielle StevensonMushrooms growing at a brownfield site in Los Angeles
An environmental toxicologist in California is cleaning up areas contaminated with heavy metals or other pollutants using fungi and native plants in a win-win for nature.

Where once toxic soils in industrial lots sat bare or weed-ridden, there are now flowering meadows of plants and mushrooms, frequented by birds and pollinators: and it's thanks to Danielle Stevenson.

Founder of DIY Fungi, the 37-year-old ecologist from UC Riverside recently spoke with Yale Press about her ongoing work restoring 'brownfields,' a term that describes a contaminated environment, abandoned by industrial, extraction, or transportation operations.

Comment: The humble fungi family seems to have many good uses beside their medicinal value.

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