‘Egg carton’ quantum dot array could lead to ultralow power devices

A new path toward sending and receiving information with single photons of light has been discovered by an international team of researchers led by the University of Michigan. …

Chinese volunteers live in Lunar Palace 1 closed environment for 370 days

Volunteer students at Beihang University have reportedly lived in the Lunar Palace 1 biosphere environment for 370 days. Media outlets have reported that two groups of students took turns living in the biosphere over the course of 370 days, and required minimal supplies from the outside. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-03-chinese-volunteers-lunar-palace-environment.html…

Giant iceberg breaks off Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica

A giant iceberg, about twice the size of Chicago, broke off from Antartica’s Brunt Ice Shelf in late February 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/giant-iceberg-breaks-off-antarctica-brunt-ice-shelf…

Earlier spring snowmelt in Alps threatens microbes in soil

A new study suggests that spring snowmelt in the Alps is occurring earlier in the year, and the earlier warming – due to climate change – threatens vitally important microbial communities in Alpine soils. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/alps-climate-change-driven-snowmelt-abrupt-seasonal-change…

Source of hazardous high-energy particles located in the Sun

The source of potentially hazardous solar particles, released from the Sun at high speed during storms in its outer atmosphere, has been located for the first time by researchers at UCL and George Mason University, Virginia, U.S. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-03-source-hazardous-high-energy-particles-sun.html…

Researchers investigate ‘imaginary part’ in quantum resource theory

Recently, a research team led by academician Guo Guangcan from CAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of CAS, has made important progress in quantum information theory. Prof. Li Chuanfeng and Prof. Xiang Guoyong from the team collaborated with Dr. Strelstov from University of Warsaw to investigate the imaginary part of quantum…

AI Ethics Research Conference Suspends Google Sponsorship

The ACM Conference for Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT) has decided to suspend its sponsorship relationship with Google, conference sponsorship co-chair and Boise State University assistant professor Michael Ekstrand confirmed today. From a report: The organizers of the AI ethics research conference came to this decision a little over a week after Google fired Ethical AI lead Margaret Mitchell and three…

Asteroid dust in Chicxulub crater seals deal on dino extinction

Scientists examined rock cores taken from the Chicxulub crater in Mexico, site of the asteroid impact that triggered dinosaur extinction, and found iridium, a telltale sign of asteroids. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/asteroid-dust-iridium-chicxulub-crater-dinosaur-extinction…

Gulf Stream at its weakest in over 1,000 years

A new study suggests that the Gulf Stream – an Atlantic Ocean current that plays a large role in shaping Earth’s weather patterns – is weaker now than at any point in the last 1,000 years. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/gulf-stream-atlantic-weakest-in-over-1000-years…

Microsoft’s Dream of Decentralized IDs Enters the Real World

For years, tech companies have touted blockchain technology as a means to develop identity systems that are secure and decentralized. The goal is to build a platform that could store information about official data without holding the actual documents or details themselves. Instead of just storing a scan of your birth certificate, for example, a decentralized ID platform might store a…