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Researchers developed a computer vision framework for posture estimation and identity tracking which they can use in indoor environments as well as in the wild. They have thus taken an important step towards markerless tracking of animals in the wild using computer vision and machine learning.

Optical analysis and machine learning techniques can now readily detect microplastics in marine and freshwater environments using inexpensive porous metal substrates.

Scientists have come a step closer to identifying the mysterious origins of the 'slow' solar wind, using data collected during the Solar Orbiter spacecraft's first close journey to the Sun.

With generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) transforming the social interaction landscape in recent years, large language models (LLMs), which use deep-learning algorithms to train GenAI platforms to process language, have been put in the spotlight. A recent study found that LLMs perform more like the human brain when being trained in more similar ways as humans process language, which has brought important insights to brain studies and the development of AI models.

Plant hydraulics drive the biological process that moves fluids from roots to plant stems and leaves, creating streaming electric potential, or voltage, in the process. A study closely examined the differences in voltage caused by the concentrations of ions, types of ions, and pH of the fluid plants transport, tying the voltage changes to the plant's circadian rhythm that causes adjustments day and night. According to the authors, this consistent, cyclic voltage creation could be harnessed as an energy source.

Through a study of 1,002 participants, scientists have found that almost half (45.7 per cent) say they intend to use air taxis when they become available, with over one-third (36.2 per cent) planning to do so regularly. According to the findings, the intention to take autonomous air taxis is associated with factors such as trust in the AI technology deployed in air taxis, hedonic motivation (the fun or pleasure derived from using technology), performance expectancy (the degree to which users expect that using the system will benefit them), and news media attention (the amount of attention paid to news about air taxis).

Through a study of 1,002 participants, scientists have found that almost half (45.7 per cent) say they intend to use air taxis when they become available, with over one-third (36.2 per cent) planning to do so regularly. According to the findings, the intention to take autonomous air taxis is associated with factors such as trust in the AI technology deployed in air taxis, hedonic motivation (the fun or pleasure derived from using technology), performance expectancy (the degree to which users expect that using the system will benefit them), and news media attention (the amount of attention paid to news about air taxis).

A new model for ballooning instabilities in apple-shaped fusion vessels considers the height and width of the plasma's edge.

Sophie Attwood is working with the food industry to promote some surprising psychological tricks designed to make environmentally friendly choices more desirable

Artificial intelligence models similar to ChatGPT are able to identify errors in computer code, letting people claim rewards for finding them - but others are using the same tools to report bugs that don't actually exist

It is increasingly obvious that battery technology is one of the keys to transitioning our civilization away from burning fossil fuels. Batteries facilitate the use of cheap, green, but intermittent energy sources. They also allow for the electrification of technology sectors that are currently dominated by fossil fuel, such as transportation. There is nothing easy, however, about making fundamental changes to core technologies on an accelerated timescale. The task is pushing the limits of our resources and ingenuity, and there is predictable pushback from those most affected by the change.

But there is some potentially good news – the relevant technologies are improving rapidly. In my opinion, the battery electric vehicle (BEV) is simply a superior technology to the internal combustion engine (ICE). Beyond the romantic cultural attachment to hum and roar of an engine, BEVs are more efficient, cheaper to operate, and virtually maintenance free. The fact that they are also better for the environment is almost incidental. The main challenge right now is infrastructure – installing all those charging stations.

It’s also pretty clear that the technology curve for BEVs is much steeper than for ICE vehicles (an already mature technology), so the technology advantage is likely to only increase. Core to BEV technology is the “B” part – batteries. The important stats of any BEV are largely driven by the battery – cost, range, recharge time, life expectancy. Right now the lithium-ion battery is the cutting edge technology, but there are lots of potential improvements on the horizon. There are essentially two types of possible battery technology advances – incremental advances in Li-Ion batteries themselves, or entirely new battery technology (like flow batteries). There are lots of potential new battery types being developed, but it seems that Li-Ion batteries likely have 1-2 decades of dominance left. There is also a lot of headroom in terms of perfecting the Li-Ion battery.

I already wrote about the next big change, swapping out the anode from graphite to silicon. This will give about a doubling of the battery energy density and specific energy (energy per volume and mass respectively). There may also be room to ultimately triple or quadruple Li-Ion battery capacity. Expect these batteries in BEVs in the next year or two.

The industry also has its sights on the cathode, which is currently made in most (but not all) Li-Ion batteries out of nickel and cobalt.  These metals are expensive, and particularly with cobalt, the mining is plagued by environmental and human safety concerns. Right now the most common battery type has the following components:

By weight percentage (g material/g battery), a typical lithium-ion battery comprises about: 7% Co, 7% Li (expressed as lithium carbonate equivalent, 1 g of lithium = 5.17 g LCE), 4% Ni, 5% Mn, 10% Cu, 15% Al, 16% graphite, and 36% other materials.

Those percentages can be deceiving, however, because the cathode (where the cobalt and nickel are found) represent >50% of the cost of the battery. Another option, already in use, is iron phosphate cathode batteries, which are cobalt free. Right now about half of new Teslas use the iron phosphate batteries. The limitation here is that these batteries have a lower energy density, therefore a shorter range or a heavier battery. Essentially the lower range vehicles use the iron phosphate batteries, reserving the cobalt batteries for the longer ranged vehicles. In China they are moving toward sodium-ion batteries. Iron and sodium are abundant and cheap, so these batteries are less expensive, but again take a hit to energy density.

What we need is a better battery chemistry that allows for the replacement of cobalt and nickel with iron or sodium while potentially improving energy density (and maintaining or improving all the other necessary features of a good battery). There is a lot of research in this direction, and a new study shows there is some potential here. They found:

Our results show that Fe-cations and anions of F− and PO43− act as charge carriers in addition to Li-ions during the conversion from iron metal to a solid solution of iron salts. This composite electrode delivers a reversible capacity of up to 368 mAh/g and a specific energy of 940 Wh/kg.

For comparison, current Tesla batteries have a specific energy of 244 to 296 Wh/kg. The Amprius silicon anode battery has a specific energy of 450-500 Wh/kg. This approach is called a dual-ion battery, since both iron ion and lithium ions carry charge. The researcher also point out that potentially these batteries could be manufactured with existing infrastructure, and without a major change to manufacturing process.

However (you knew this was coming) the technology still has some kinks to work out. The storage efficiency is still limited – not all the energy that is stored in the battery is available for use. A high specific energy means nothing if you cannot access most of the energy. Study author Xiulei “David” Ji says that the industry needs to invest in further research into this approach to solve this one remaining problem. While this may be true, such statements always give me pause. Sometimes it works out – the same was said of the silicon anode 10 years ago, and a company did invest in the technology and work it out. Perhaps the same will be true of this approach to an iron-based cathode. But it doesn’t always work out – sometimes that last little problem becomes an unsolvable deal-killer.

But there are lots of labs and companies working on many potential battery advances. We only need some of them to work out. The net result is an impressive steady improvement in Li-ion battery technology, which should continue for at least another 2-3 decades, with significant improvement in specific energy. This will completely transform the BEV market.

The post A Greener Li-Ion Battery first appeared on NeuroLogica Blog.

Mining for minerals needed for wind turbines and other clean energy technologies has a high environmental cost, but some kinds of seaweed could offer an alternative source

This procedure promising facial rejuvenation is basically a full face tattoo of your own blood.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss435_Charan_Ranganath_2024_05_28.mp3 Download MP3

A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember, pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist Charan Ranganath radically reframes the way we think about the everyday act of remembering. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past and how we use that information to understand who we are in the present, and to imagine and plan for the future.

Memory, Dr. Ranganath shows, is a highly transformative force that shapes how we experience the world in often invisible and sometimes destructive ways. Knowing this can help us with daily remembering tasks, like finding our keys, and with the challenge of memory loss as we age. What’s more, when we work with the brain’s ability to learn and reinterpret past events, we can heal trauma, shed our biases, learn faster, and grow in self-awareness.

Including fascinating studies and examples from pop culture, and drawing on Ranganath’s life as a scientist, father, and child of immigrants, Why We Remember is a captivating read that unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives. When we understand its power—and its quirks—we can cut through the clutter and remember the things we want to remember. We can make freer choices and plan a happier future.

Charan Ranganath is a Professor at the Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology and director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California at Davis. For over 25 years, Dr. Ranganath has studied the mechanisms in the brain that allow us to remember past events, using brain imaging techniques, computational modeling and studies of patients with memory disorders. He has been recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship. He lives in Davis, California. Outside of neuroscience, Dr. Ranganath is also a songwriter and guitarist with a number of recording credits, including a song on a feature film soundtrack.

Shermer and Ranganath discuss:

• the neurophysiology of memory: how memories are stored by neurons
• the meaning of “forgetting” — Is the memory in there somewhere or lost forever?
• How much of what we could remember do we actually remember?
• episodic, semantic, working, flashbulb, long-term, and short-term memory
• recovered memories vs. false memories + confabulation, conflation
• regular memory loss and disease/injury memory loss
• Alzheimer’s, dementia, senility
• PTSD and bad memories
• déjá vu
• triggers of memory: music, smells, contextual cues
• learning as a form of memory
• learning by making mistakes
• social memories and the extended self
• remembered self vs. experiencing self
• MEMself vs. POVself
• uploading memories into the cloud
• improving your memory: what works, what doesn’t.

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support by making a $5 or $10 monthly donation.

Normally you don’t want dust to get into your spacecraft. That was certainly true for the InSight mission to Mars, until it died. Now, however, it’s acting as a dust collector, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) scientists couldn’t be happier.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) onboard MRO monitors and images the surface. In particular, it has been imaging landing sites on Mars to track dust accumulation on the surface. The idea is to see how quickly the landers and their nearby environments get covered. It doesn’t just focus on landing sites, though. It also checks places like impact craters to track surface changes in and around those regions. As you can see from its latest image above, taken on April 1st, 2024, it’s getting tough to spot the InSIGHT lander thanks to ever-growing accumulations of dust.

Monitoring Surface Changes on Mars

HiRISE has been checking in on the InSIGHT lander ever since it first deployed on Mars. Early images show the hardware in fairly good detail right after landing. Then, over time, as Martian winds take their toll, it’s obvious the spacecraft is getting coated in dust. That’s also true of other spacecraft that HiRISE images from time to time.

The best image of the InSight lander taken by HiRISE in 2019. HiRISE scientists were looking for dust devil tracks and other changes in the surface due to dust. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Why care about dust? Although we know a great deal about Mars, there’s still a lot to figure out. Wind deposition of dust is part of the so-called aeolian processes that alter the Martian surface appearance. They’re named after the Greek wind god Aeolus. Dust storms are certainly visible on Mars from Earth, but we can’t really “see” their deposits easily without getting close to (or on) the planet. Other activities, such as dust devils, also redistribute dust around the planet. All this activity creates wind streaks, sand, and dust deposits, and covers up spacecraft on the surface.

The study of the aeolian process is one of the HiRISE instrument’s major science themes. There’s not much water action to change the surface. Nor is there any Martian volcanic activity to muck up the landscape. Impact craters do tear up the surface, but they aren’t frequent. That leaves aeolian activity as a major player in Mars surface changes. Image after image shows dunes, ripples, wind streaks, dust devil tracks, and other features created by the winds. The HiRISE imaging project gives a “wide-angle” view of aeolian effects on the Red Planet and how its various surface units change over time.

InSight’s Future on Mars

The InSight lander performed almost flawlessly during its four years in operation on Mars. Although one of its instruments, the “mole” had some difficulties performing its digging action, the mission as a whole was quite successful. The seismograph monitored Marsquakes throughout the mission, which gives details about the Martian interior. It also differentiated between quakes from Mars’s interior and those caused by impacts. The spacecraft other instruments sampled the remnants of the weak magnetic field and monitored the Martian weather.

The InSight lander not only measured seismic motions on Mars, but also sampled the atmosphere and listened to its winds. Courtesy: NASA/JPL.

As increasing levels of dust covered InSight’s solar panels, mission scientists had to power down many of its systems. The seismometer was the last one to be shut off. The spacecraft was officially considered “dead” after mission controllers didn’t hear from it after two attempts at communication. The last time anybody heard from it was December 15, 2022.

These days, although the instruments are silent and the solar panels are dead, the spacecraft is passively and rapidly accumulating dust. That gives scientists a chance to understand just how the surface changes thanks to aeolian activity.

For More Information

Revisiting InSight
Aeolian Themes for HiRISE
Winds of Mars
InSight Mission Ends

The post Mars InSight Has One Last Job: Getting Swallowed by Dust on the Red Planet appeared first on Universe Today.

Nothing lasts forever, including black holes. Over immensely long periods of time, they evaporate, as will other large objects in the Universe. This is because of Hawking Radiation, named after Stephen Hawking, who developed the idea in the 1970s.

The problem is Hawking Radiation has never been reliably observed.

A trio of European researchers think they’ve found a way to see Hawking Radiation. Their work is in a paper titled “Measuring Hawking Radiation from Black Hole Morsels in Astrophysical Black Hole Mergers.”

Black hole mergers were predicted long ago but never observed. Theory showed that these mergers should release powerful gravitational waves. Finally, in 2015, the LIGO observatory detected the first merger. Now, scientists have detected many of them.

In their brief research letter, the researchers say that these mergers are a window into Hawking Radiation (HR.) When black holes merge, they may create so-called “morsel” black holes the size of asteroids that are ejected into space. Their small size should make their HR detectable.

The HR coming from these small BHs produces gamma rays with a particular “fingerprint” of high-energy photons.

“In this letter, we explore the observational consequences of the production of a large number of small BH morsels during a catastrophic event such as the merger of two astrophysical BHs,” the authors explain. “As we shall show, the Hawking radiation stemming from these BH morsels gives rise to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) possessing a distinctive fingerprint.”

When black hole morsels evaporate, they emit particles in a spherically symmetrical pattern. As long as the larger merged BH is not blocking their view, the HR particles should reach us. The photon energy from the bursts exceeds the trillion-electron volt (TeV) scale.

The researchers say that the energy level of the gamma-ray bursts from these morsel holes is detectable by atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes like the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-ray observatory. HAWC observes photons in a range from 100 GeV to 100 TeV.

HAWC is at an altitude of 4100 meters ((2.5 miles) in Mexico. It’s one of several facilities that can detect energetic photons from morsel black holes. Image Credit: By Jordanagoodman – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35122613

Many questions remain. The authors say that these morsel BHs will emit the most energy close to their time of evaporation. But when morsel BHs are emitted in the intense gravitational environment of a BH merger, their Hawking Radiation may be affected. The same is true if the morsels are emitted at relativistic velocities. Both of those factors could alter their spectra before they reach our detectors.

There are points in the Standard Model of Particle Physics where things break down due to our lack of understanding. The authors point out that some new physics not observed before could also distort the spectra from morsel black holes, making them tricky to observe.

There’s another really interesting aspect to these asteroid-size morsel black holes. Since the physics in the very early Universe were different, it’s possible they were created then. If they were, and if they haven’t evaporated by now, they could constitute dark matter.

“The observation of Hawking radiation from BH morsels, therefore, could enlighten us not only about the production of such morsels but also about particle physics at energies beyond the reach of current and future collider experiments, carrying imprints from new physics based on supersymmetry, composite dynamics, or extra dimensions, to name a few,” the authors write.

The post Merging Black Holes Could Give Astronomers a Way to Detect Hawking Radiation appeared first on Universe Today.

I’m not well today: a combination of a lingering cold and severe insomnia last night has laid me low (if I have to give up wine to sleep, I’ll conclude that life isn’t worth living). But I did finish my essay about our Amsterdam deplatforming, written with Maarten Boudry, that we’ll publish in another place when the video of our discussion goes up. (It was filmed in an almost-empty room in a secret location in downtown Amsterdam, and turned out well.)

In the meantime, exhausted from writing, I’m going home and have little to offer today. Below are two items. First, a ten-minute discussion of Bill Maher with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria about Maher’ss new book. This is a very different discussion from the one Maher had with the women on “The View”, and shows that he’s deft on his feet as well as thoughtful. Among the topics: why the protests of the Sixties differ from the pro-Palestinian protestors of today, why he makes fun of the Left so often, sex and gender, “healthy at any weight”,  incels, the difficulties of dating these days (men are losing their ability to communicate), growing tribalism, why the Right has become so crazy, and Maher’s prediction that, even if Trump loses this fall, he won’t concede the election.

Maureen Dowd has a long piece in the NYT about Maher and his book (mostly about Maher), and it’s a good read. Click the headline below for an archived version:

An excerpt:

He seems to make more news than all of the other night-owl comedians combined, no doubt because he breaks free of comedy’s congealed partisan worldview. Unlike most other political commentators, he does not pander to the left or the right.

“Let’s be honest,” he said. “The only thing that the two parties really have in common is that they’re both hoping their candidates die.”

Sometimes Fox (which he says he rarely watches) loves him and MSNBC is mad at him, and sometimes it’s the reverse. In a world awash in disinformation, Maher gives blunt, practical opinions, not filtered through ideology or likability, on everything from “Barbie” to Bibi to babies — and why he never had them.

“Why can’t everybody live in my world, in the middle, where we’re not nuts?” he wondered, ordering a shot of tequila to go with his margherita pizza. The dedicated health freak, opponent of treating obesity as body positivity, and Ozempic skeptic has a small bottle with a dropper, dripping into his sparkling water a product called Jing, a bubbly water enhancer with no aspartame, gluten or carbs.

Maher is constantly asked why he makes fun of the left more than he used to.

“Yes, I do, because they’re goofier and more obnoxious than they used to be,” he told his guests, Frank Bruni and Douglas Murray, on his show recently. “They also just became weirder.”

“I’m a comedian,” he told me. “I’m going to go where the ridiculous is.”

. . . At dinner, we talked about the eruption of antisemitism.

“It’s hard to get your head around the thought of people yelling ‘Death to America’ on American soil,” he said.

He is disgusted with progressive students who, as he writes, cheer on Hamas to preside over a country with few constraints against sexual harassment, spousal rape, domestic violence, homophobia and child marriage.

He calls elite universities “the mouth of the river” from which nonsense flows, producing “American-hating hysterics devoid of knowledge. If they had any knowledge about the Middle East or what apartheid really means or genocide, would they be on the side of Hamas, really?”

In ancient courts, the jester could speak the truth to the king with impunity, like Shakespeare’s fools. But, given safe spaces and trigger warnings, being a jester isn’t what it used to be.

“He survived his first cancellation,” said Tina Brown, the media duchess, “and now has become a warrior for the rest of us, absolutely refusing to be careful.”

All I can say is that the more I listen to Maher, the more I admire him. Maybe that’s because we align politically, but he’s also snide and funny as hell.

 

A single dose of genetically engineered immune cells reduced asthma symptoms in mice for at least a year

Observations made by the Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s include signs of recent lava flows, highlighting possible exploration targets for probes heading to Venus in the 2030s

Boilers are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. In a recent study, researchers developed a method to convert CO2 emissions from small boilers into methane, which makes use of an optimized reactor design that evenly distributes the CO2 feed. This, in turn, results in significantly lower temperature increments and a boost in methane production. This innovative technique could pave the way for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.