The Cornell Alliance for Science seeks to build “a significant international alliance of partners” to “correct misinformation and counter conspiracy theories” slowing progress on climate change, synthetic biology, agricultural innovations, and other issues. Slashdot reader wooloohoo shares their article about research on Ghana’s first gene-edited crop — a high-yielding sweet potato with increased beta carotone content. “For sweet potatoes, we want…
Tag: Revolution
Vampire squid fossil ‘lost’ during the Hungarian Revolution rediscovered
The ancestors of vampire squid started trawling deep, oxygen-poor waters around 30 million years ago, a long-lost fossil rediscovery reveals. Source: https://www.livescience.com/vampire-squid-lost-fossil.html
Insect brains will teach us how to make truly intelligent robots
We need a revolution in artificial intelligence and learning from insects will help us achieve it, says James Marshall Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933220-100-insect-brains-will-teach-us-how-to-make-truly-intelligent-robots/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
AEgIS on track to test freefall of antimatter
It’s a fundamental law of physics that even the most ardent science-phobe can define: matter falls down under gravity. But what about antimatter, which has the same mass but opposite electrical charge and spin? According to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, gravity should treat matter and antimatter identically. Finding even the slightest difference in their free-fall rate would therefore lead to…
Tomorrow is New Year’s Day on Mars
Mars Year 36 begins on February 7, 2021. If you’re looking for a reason to celebrate, here’s to a Happy New Year … on Mars. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/mars-calendar-years-began-in-earth-year-1955…
A hydrogen fuel revolution is coming – here’s why we might not want it
Hydrogen is widely touted as a green fuel for everything from cars and planes to heating homes. But all too often it has a dirty secret Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933200-400-a-hydrogen-fuel-revolution-is-coming-heres-why-we-might-not-want-it/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Are We Slowing Global Warming?
This week New York Magazine featured a new article by journalist David Wallace-Wells about the state of the fight against global warming. He warns that “Already, the planet is warmer, at just 1.2 degrees, than it has ever been…” But there’s also some good news:
Just a half-decade ago, it was widely believed that a “business as usual” emissions path would bring…
The superconductor breakthrough that could mean an energy revolution
We’ve finally made a room-temperature superconductor, so materials that transport electricity without wasting any of it are within our grasp Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933170-900-the-superconductor-breakthrough-that-could-mean-an-energy-revolution/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Entangling electrons with heat
A joint group of scientists from Finland, Russia, China and the U.S. has demonstrated that temperature difference can be used to entangle pairs of electrons in superconducting structures. The experimental discovery, published in Nature Communications, promises powerful applications in quantum devices, bringing us one step closer to applications of the second quantum revolution. …
The Atlantic Urges Humankind to Fix the Social Web
Heading into the new year, the Atlantic’s executive editor penned a scathing warning that vast social networks like Facebook “can harm society just by existing…” Even as Facebook has insisted that it is a value-neutral vessel for the material its users choose to publish, moderation is a lever the company has tried to pull again and again. But there aren’t enough…