Thelasko shared this report from the BBC: A steady decline in the levels of ozone-harming CFC chemicals in the atmosphere has resumed, scientists say. This follows a recent, dangerous pause in that downward trajectory, which could have slowed the healing of Earth’s protective ozone layer. Atmospheric measurements published in 2018 pointed to illegal CFC production that was occurring in Eastern China….
Tag: Bristol
Darth Vader Actor From Original ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Dies at Age 85
Reuters reports: David Prowse, the English actor who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films, has died aged 85, his management company said on Sunday… The champion weightlifter-turned-actor starred as the body, but not the voice, of one of cinema’s best-known villains. Director George Lucas opted to dub another voice onto Prowse’s portrayal of the towering, masked antagonist Darth…
Tiny device enables new record in super-fast quantum light detection
Bristol researchers have developed a tiny device that paves the way for higher performance quantum computers and quantum communications, making them significantly faster than the current state-of-the-art. …
Why Arctic sea ice has stalled, and what it means for the rest of the world
In the next few decades, scientists expect we’ll see an ice-free Arctic Ocean throughout the summer. That prospect got much closer in 2020, due in part to the exceptional summer heatwave that roiled the Russian Arctic. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/why-arctic-winter-sea-ice-stalled-2020…
Some Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Resort To Pen and Paper After Ransomware Hits Software
A software company supporting hundreds of clinical trials — including coronavirus vaccine trials — has been hit by a ransomware attack that “has slowed some of those trials over the past two weeks,” reports the New York Times. Employees “discovered that they were locked out of their data by ransomware…” eResearchTechnology (ERT) said clinical trial patients were never at risk, but…
Did this mass extinction event trigger dawn of the dinosaurs?
New research suggests that a series of huge volcanic eruptions, 233 million years ago, led to a mass extinction event that heralded the dawn of the dinosaurs. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/mass-extinction-event-trigger-dawn-of-dinosaurs…
Secure quantum communications network is the largest of its kind
A quantum communications network running on optical fibres in Bristol, UK, is the largest of its kind with eight users, but its creators say it could handle more than 100 people in future Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253448-secure-quantum-communications-network-is-the-largest-of-its-kind/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Photon discovery is a major step toward large-scale quantum technologies
A team of physicists at the University of Bristol has developed the first integrated photon source with the potential to deliver large-scale quantum photonics. …
AI Will Soon Be Able To Decode Your Poop
Microbial health company Seed is launching a campaign to collect 100,000 fecal photos to build what developers say is the world’s first poop image database. The campaign dares you to “give a shit” for science by uploading photos of your feces so that scientists can use it to train an AI platform launched out of MIT. Developers say that your photos…
Air Pollution ‘Triggers Hundreds More Heart Attacks and Strokes,’ Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Higher air pollution in the UK trigger hundreds more heart attacks, strokes and acute asthma attacks each year, research suggests. A team at King’s College London looked at data from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford and Southampton. They calculated days with above average pollution levels would see an extra…