Science & Technology
Individual drones can be used to disinfect area of 16,000 square metres in a single morning which make it a much faster method of delivering public hygiene than traditional means either on foot or by lorry.
It is thought that the airborne devices are currently being used in the coastal provinces of Jilin, Shandong and Zhejiang.
Footage has captured the drones hovering several metres above the ground as disinfectant liquid is sprayed from the underside of each machine.
Comment: See also:
- First lethal case outside China: WHO confirms death of coronavirus patient in Philippines
- Russia suspends visa-free tourist travel to and from China over coronavirus
- Ice Age Farmer Report: CHINA: It's NOT About the Coronavirus -- It's About the FOOD
- Coronavirus' deadliest day in China, WHO declares international health emergency, countries close borders - UPDATES
- The Chinese coronavirus outbreak is not the zombie apocalypse
- Research paper finds HIV like insertions in 2019-nCoV not found in any other coronavirus, "unlikely to be fortuitous in nature"
© Alex Wild/University of Texas at Austin
A Varroa mite, a common pest that can weaken bees and make them more susceptible to pathogens, feeds on a honey bee.
A Varroa mite, a common pest that can weaken bees and make them more susceptible to pathogens, feeds on a honey bee.
An increasing number of honey bee colonies in the U.S. have seen the dwindling of their adult bees. According to a national survey, beekeepers lost nearly 40% of their honey bee colonies last winter, the highest rate reported since the survey began 13 years ago.
The engineered bacteria live in the guts of honey bees and act as biological factories, pumping out medicines protecting the bees against two major causes of colony collapse: Varroa mites and deformed wing virus. The researchers believe their method could one day scale up for agricultural use because the engineered bacteria are easy to grow, inoculating the bees is straightforward and the engineered bacteria are unlikely to spread beyond bees.
Comment: While this may be a promising avenue in addressing colony collapse disorder (and all of the assumptions about the specificity of the bacteria the team has developed hold true), there are many other factors that should be looked at, such as loss of natural habitat, stress from commercial pollination operations, and most recently, the implications of 5G technology on the orienting capacity of bees.
- Genetically Modified Crops Implicated in Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder
- Wild Bees Reject Genetically Engineered Crop
- Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder Finally Explained: Too Many Chemicals
- European honeybees being poisoned with up to 57 different pesticides
- More Evidence Rises Of Role Pesticides Play In Bee Colony Collapse
- It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees
- Bees survive better at small farms than commercial ones
© CC0 Public Domain
By analysing magnetic field records at opposite ends of the Earth (UK and Australia), scientists have been able to detect super-storms going back over the last 150 years.
This result was made possible by a new way of analysing historical data, pioneered by the University of Warwick, from the last 14 solar cycles, way before the space age began in 1957, instead of the last five solar cycles currently used.
The analysis shows that 'severe' magnetic storms occurred in 42 out of the last 150 years, and 'great' super-storms occurred in 6 years out of 150. Typically, a storm may only last a few days but can be hugely disruptive to modern technology. Super-storms can cause power blackouts, take out satellites, disrupt aviation and cause temporary loss of GPS signals and radio communications.
Comment: As Earth's geomagnetic field wanes in tandem with what has been called a 'grand' solar minimum, the impact these super storms can have could become amplified many times over - our planet is already witnessing the probable effects caused by our weakening magnetic field:
- "The Dunes": NEW type of aurora discovered, and the unexpected physics behind it
- Atmospheric radiation highest ever recorded, cosmic rays at 5 year high
- Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Interview with Laura Knight-Jadczyk and Pierre Lescaudron
- Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?
© Lumcon via Pen News
All that was left after one of the three alligators was snatched whole
All that was left after one of the three alligators was snatched whole
Scientists had lowered the three dead reptiles at a depth of one and a half miles in the Gulf of Mexico to understand how carbon-hungry creatures of the deep would react.
Despite one alligator and its harness having a combined weight of 38.9kg (85.8lbs), a mystery predator managed to pull it 30ft through the sand, drag marks suggested. The rope was bitten completely through, allowing the predator to carry away its meal.
The ability to measure the activity and quantity of glutamate in brain cells has been long sought-after among researchers. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. Despite its abundance, and its influence on many important functions, we know a lot less about it than other neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, because so far glutamate has been difficult to measure quickly enough.
The new findings around glutamate are therefore very significant and could help improve our understanding of the pathologies underlying neurological and psychiatric diseases and conditions. The relationship between glutamate and these disorders, as well as our memory, our appetite and more, are just some of the questions which the researchers' newly discovered technology could help answer.
"When we started, everybody said 'this will never work'. But we didn't give in. Now we have a beautiful example of how multi-disciplinary basic science can yield major breakthroughs, and deliver real benefit," says Ann-Sofie Cans, Associate Professor in Chemistry at Chalmers and leader of the research group.
© Mark Myers, OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence/Swinburne University of Technology
The team has been tracking the orbit of the extraordinary binary star for about 20 years, using the CSIRO Parkes Observatory's 64-metre radio telescope.
The researchers, from the ARC Centre of Excellence of Gravitational Wave Discovery, caught the spinning celestial bodies "frame-dragging" or, in other words, twisting both space and time with their immense gravity.
The research, published Friday in the journal Science, is yet more evidence for Einstein's theory of general relativity.
The binary star is made up of two stars. One is a white dwarf, a star whose nuclear fuel has run out, which is roughly the size of the Earth but has 300,000 times its density. The other is a neutron star which is somehow about 100 billion times the density of the Earth while only measuring approximately 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) in diameter.
All that matter is compressed into a star system with the catchy name "PSR J1141-6545."
© Pexels.com
Last winter, US beekeepers lost 40 percent of their honey bees; it was the highest mortality rate since national surveying began 13 years ago. Honey bees contribute approximately $20 billion-worth of value to US crop production, so safeguarding them is huge from both an economic and conservation standpoint.
Like many of the best solutions, the method discovered by the scientists from the University of Texas at Austin is actually rather simple. The team developed a bioengineered strain of bacteria which is fatal to two major pathogens responsible for colony collapse in bees.
They then simply added the bacteria to a sugar water solution and waited for the bees to ingest it while grooming each other.
Comment: See also: Mycologist Paul Stamets discovers all natural pest-fighting fungi
- Fungi Perfecti: Mushroom extracts are saving millions of bees from Colony Collapse Disorder
- Paul Stamets' epiphany that mushrooms could help save the world's bees
- Magic Mycellum: The healing power of mushrooms
- Solutions from the underground: How fungi can help heal humans & the planet
- Fungi expert holds the patent that could destroy Monsanto and change agriculture forever
© Mark Myers/OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence/Swinburne University of Technology
In everyday life, frame-dragging is both undetectable and inconsequential, as the effect is so ridiculously tiny. Detecting the frame-dragging caused by the entire Earth's spin requires satellites such as the US$750 million Gravity Probe B, and the detection of angular changes in gyroscopes equivalent to just one degree every 100,000 years or so.
Luckily for us, the Universe contains many naturally occurring gravitational laboratories where physicists can observe Einstein's predictions at work in exquisite detail. Our team's research, published today in Science, reveals evidence of frame-dragging on a much more noticeable scale, using a radio telescope and a unique pair of compact stars whizzing around each other at dizzying speeds.
© ETH Zurich / Peter Rüegg
Looks amazingly similar to a real nugget: 18-carat gold with latex as the base material.
Looks amazingly similar to a real nugget: 18-carat gold with latex as the base material.
Lovers of gold watches and heavy jewellery will be thrilled. The objects of their desire may someday become much lighter, but without losing any of their glitter. Especially with watches, a small amount of weight can make all the difference. No one wants to wear a heavy watch on their wrist, even if it's made of real gold. After a time, it becomes uncomfortable and annoying.
Formerly a postdoc in the ETH lab headed by Raffaele Mezzenga, Professor of Food and Soft Materials, Leonie van 't Hag set to create a new form of gold that weighs about five to ten times less than traditional 18-carat gold. The conventional mixture is usually three-quarters gold and one-quarter copper, with a density of about 15 g/cm3.
Comment: This ideologically-motivated bit of technology research is wrong on so many levels that its not even funny, but we have to start somewhere: Damore Lawsuit Exposes Extremist Ideology And Social Intolerance at Google