Science

Imagine a future where your phone, computer or even a tiny wearable device can think and learn like the human brain -- processing information faster, smarter and using less energy. A breakthrough approach brings this vision closer to reality by electrically 'twisting' a single nanoscale ferroelectric domain wall.

Researchers have recently achieved a significant breakthrough in the development of next-generation carbon-based quantum materials, opening new horizons for advancements in quantum electronics. The innovation involves a novel type of graphene nanoribbon (GNR), named Janus GNR (JGNR). The material has a unique zigzag edge, with a special ferromagnetic edge state located on one of the edges. This unique design enables the realization of one-dimensional ferromagnetic spin chain, which could have important applications in quantum electronics and quantum computing.

Researchers have recently achieved a significant breakthrough in the development of next-generation carbon-based quantum materials, opening new horizons for advancements in quantum electronics. The innovation involves a novel type of graphene nanoribbon (GNR), named Janus GNR (JGNR). The material has a unique zigzag edge, with a special ferromagnetic edge state located on one of the edges. This unique design enables the realization of one-dimensional ferromagnetic spin chain, which could have important applications in quantum electronics and quantum computing.

Scientists have developed inhalable lung cancer therapeutics utilizing mucoadhesive proteinic nanoparticles.

A team developed a method that makes it easy to measure the wrinkles in thin membranes used on large spacecraft using just a single camera.

A team developed a method that makes it easy to measure the wrinkles in thin membranes used on large spacecraft using just a single camera.

Scientists have created a catalyst for hydrogen generation from ammonia that becomes more active with time, and by counting atoms revealed changes that boost the catalyst's performance.

A battery that needs feeding instead of charging? This is exactly what researchers have achieved with their 3D-printed, biodegradable fungal battery. The living battery could supply power to sensors for agriculture or research in remote regions. Once the work is done, it digests itself from the inside.

Quantum computers require extreme cooling to perform reliable calculations. One of the challenges preventing quantum computers from entering society is the difficulty of freezing the qubits to temperatures close to absolute zero. Now, researchers have engineered a new type of refrigerator that can autonomously cool superconducting qubits to record low temperatures, paving the way for more reliable quantum computation.

AI tools are increasingly being used to track and monitor us both online and in-person, yet their effectiveness comes with big risks. Computer scientists have developed a new mathematical model which could help people better understand the risks posed by AI and assist regulators in protecting peoples' privacy.

Epithelial tissues are in constant interaction with their environment. Maintaining their functionality requires dynamic balance (homeostasis) and that their cell numbers are tightly regulated. This is achieved by cell extrusion programs, a checkpoint mechanism eliminating unwanted or harmful cells. Researchers have now demonstrated how physical signals can have an impact on the fate of extruding cells governing their death or survival. The results may establish novel paths for understanding tissue properties in both normal and pathological conditions.

A team has developed a new method that facilitates and improves predictions of tabular data, especially for small data sets with fewer than 10,000 data points. The new AI model TabPFN is trained on synthetically generated data before it is used and thus learns to evaluate possible causal relationships and use them for predictions.

A team has developed a new method that facilitates and improves predictions of tabular data, especially for small data sets with fewer than 10,000 data points. The new AI model TabPFN is trained on synthetically generated data before it is used and thus learns to evaluate possible causal relationships and use them for predictions.

AI-powered algorithm can analyze video recordings of clinical sleep tests and more accurately diagnose REM sleep behavior disorder.

Researchers have developed a method for quickly detecting and identifying very low concentrations of gases, which, could form the basis for highly sensitive real-time sensors for applications such as environmental monitoring, breath analysis and chemical process control.

An international team of scientists has called for the creation of an 18th addition to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which would aim to mitigate against the accumulation of space junk in Earth's orbit. They believe a new SDG18 could draw direct inspiration from one of the existing goals -- SDG14: Life Below Water -- with lessons learned in marine debris management being used to prevent another planetary crisis before it is too late.

Sabre teeth can be ideal for puncturing the flesh of prey, which may explain why they evolved in different groups of mammals at least five times

The United Nations has 17 sustainable development goals that all member states have signed up to in an effort to balance economics and the environment - and now researchers say we need a new one to ensure we keep space junk under control

Few places in the solar system are better suited to a balloon than Titan. The combination of low gravity and high atmospheric density makes Saturn’s largest moon ideal for a lighter than “air” vehicle, and the idea to put one there has been around for at least two decades. So why haven’t we yet? The simple answer is the size of the necessary balloon is too large for the existing launch platforms. But a team from Boeing, the prime contractor on the Space Launch System (SLS), believes their new launch platform will be capable of getting a large balloon into orbit, along with its necessary scientific payload – and start unlocking the mysteries of this intriguing moon.

We’ve reported various balloon missions to Titan, including some that would “walk,” but Boeing’s design is more akin to a traditional blimp. It would have a balloon filled with helium and two ballast tanks that, combined with a cruciform tail, would allow the balloon to control its roll, pitch, and yaw. 

The balloon would intake local atmospheric gases to descend or expel them to rise to control its altitude. The Boeing engineers offered two different altitude configurations: a 150m3 balloon for a 5km altitude or a 400m3 balloon for a 20km altitude orbit. When compressed, both balloon sizes can fit into an SLS payload fairing.

Fraser discusses why a mission to Titan would be interesting.

The gondola is where the real magic happens, and the paper the authors released was scant on details of what precisely this science would be. They mention various tools, including RADAR and LIDAR systems to scan the surface of Titan and, in particular, keep track of any changes from geological activity. There could also be atmospheric sensors that could detect whether there were any organic molecules in the area that would give an indication of what kind of liquid methane cycle there is, if any.

Another important point about the mission design is that it would last a long time—the team expects such a balloon to last in Titan’s atmosphere for years. During that time, it would be able to notice long-term trends, like seasonal variability, and possibly why the night side of Titan appears to be warmer than the day side.

The mission was designed for a launch in the 2034-2036 time frame, with several different windows of opportunity during those years that would take advantage of a lower delta-v requirement to get to the Saturnian system. However, the SLS has had its own difficulties that could delay that timeline. While it has launched once, in 2022, its second launch is not planned until 2026 – almost four years later. It is also not reusable, and given the requirements it has to meet NASA’s demand for Artemis launches to the Moon, it is unlikely that any additional SLS launches will be available in that time frame. 

There are plenty of ideas for missions to Titan, as Fraser explains here.

That’s not to mention the cost, which is estimated at $2.5bn per launch at the time of writing. While that might eventually come down in price, it still has to compete with Starship, which has a higher launch capacity and has flown four times since the SLS took its first trip to the sky over two years ago.

Dragonfly, NASA’s helicopter mission to Titan, is already using a Falcon Heavy to launch in 2028. While the Falcon Heavy doesn’t have as much payload capacity as the SLS, it could still potentially get a smaller version of the same mission to Titan. Ultimately, as access to space gets cheaper, and there are more and more launch platforms capable of sending a balloon to this unique world, someday, a mission will likely be approved – it remains to be seen how it will get there.

Learn More:
Donahue et al. – Titan Atmospheric Current Rider: An SLS Launched Titan Balloon Mission
UT – What About a Mission to Titan?
UT – Exploring Titan with Balloons and Landers
UT – A Walking Balloon Could One Day Explore Titan – Or Earth’s Sea Floor

Lead Image:
Artist’s depiction of a balloon on Titan.
Credit – Donahue et al.

The post SLS Could Launch A Titan Balloon Mission appeared first on Universe Today.

This piece, by a pseudonymous researcher with a Substack, is another example of scientists decrying the journals and editors who make political statements in public. By so doing, the author points out, they simply decrease public confidence in science and scientists (down 10% in just five years, though still high). In other words, violating institutional neutrality in science is counterproductive. When Nature endorsed Biden four years ago, all it did was to erode confidence in the journal, and in U.S. scientists, while not moving any voters toward the Democrats.

Click the headline below to read the article for free:

The author speaks specifically about Holden Thorp, the editor of Science, certainly the most prestigious science journal in America. Thorp said this after the Democrats lost the election:

Holden Thorp, the Editor-in-Chief of Science, another preeminent science journal—the kind publishing in which makes or breaks careers of aspiring academics and the kind that defines funding and research strategies the world over, wrote a response, of sorts, to the voters “…who feel alienated America’s governmental, social, and economic institutions [that] include science and higher education”. His claim is simple: Trump’s message of “…xenophobia, sexism, racism, transphobia, nationalism, and disregard for truth…” resonates with them. It’s the people’s fault: the people voted wrong. Well… to borrow his own words, “Make no mistake.” Holden Thorp does not speak for me.

You can find Thorp’s op-ed here.

It’s not that the author is a Trump fan, for, like me, he despises the man:

. . . Harris’ legacy is tainted by her support for the diversity and social justice activism responsible for the damage that has been done to Western academic and social institutions in its name. She lost to Donald Trump, a conman and a charlatan of historic proportions who went as far as inciting a coup to remain in power the last time he was president, and a persona as anti-science as one could imagine after Lysenko’s death, second possibly only to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In many ways, 2024 was the year the Democrats handed the election to Trump

About the Pew surveys, with links in the article:

What these surveys and studies show is that people continue to trust scientists more, than they do politicians. It follows from this that the more scientists act like politicians, the less the public will trust us. Yet, in recent decades, scientific institutions and individual scientists have been acting more and more like the politicians by engaging in activism and social engineering.

I do not know who the author is, but he/she rejects being spoken for by Thorp simply because of Thorp’s dismissal of Americans as a “basket of deplorables” and declaring that his journal adheres to “progressive” politics:

Surveys and studies on public trust in science suggest that what people question is not the science, but “… the extent to which scientists’ values align with their own”, and how this alignment—or misalignment—affects the integrity of their findings. What are the values that people expect scientists to align with? According to Holden Thorps of academia, those values are xenophobia, sexism, racism, transphobia, nationalism, and disregard for truth. This disparaging message is nothing new. In fact, this has been the message communicated by individual academics and academic institutions to people on the outside for at least two decades, the message that can be found everywhere, from land acknowledgements to course syllabi. Academics are telling people that they stole “indigenous land”, that they are oppressors, colonizers, racists, misogynists, -phobes of all sorts, fascists, racists, nationalists. It is furthermore alleged that it is up to the enlightened academic elite to show the unwashed masses the path to salvation that lies through admitting one’s sins, accepting one’s guilt, and correcting the way one thinks, speaks, and behaves. Notably, the sins in question, as well as the alleged enlightenment of the accusers, are both imaginary.

It is not only that Holden Thorp and those like him have for decades been dripping disdain for the very people who pay their salaries, travel allowances, and research costs from their taxes; It is not only that his brand of academics have for decades been demonizing those regular voters he is talking about—bus drivers and fast food employees, teachers and policemen, servicemen and businessmen—as some sort of Nazi-adjacent monsters, accusing them of all sorts of imaginary sins. It is that those same people, while being demonized for their desire to live and enjoy normal, safe, and productive lives under the conditions afforded by the freedom and safety of Western civilization, the civilization built on the blood of the brave defenders of its values—those same people have at the same time witnessed the full-throttled support academia threw behind the black lives matter riots and Islamic terrorists—those real, living and breathing Nazis who behead children, rape women, burn entire families alive, and shoot their pet dogs; Hamas supporters were allowed to roam free on academic campuses, attacking people, vandalizing buildings, leaving a mess for the janitors to clean up, and, in general, destroying things built over generations by the very people the academics demonize.

In other words, those voters Holden Thorp is so disdainful of were witnessing the hypocrisy of the academic community, the members of which compromised the truth for political gain—exactly the sin Thorp is accusing his political rivals (Trump supporters) of. Against this backdrop, the surprising part is that trust in science and scientists remains as high as it does.

The article gives several more examples of the institutional capture and lack of institutional neutrality of science editors and journals, including the sad tale of Laura Helmuth and Scientific American (I note that the new, Helmuth-less journal seems to have retracted its wokeness). But the article ends on a note of hope. I have added the links from the original article.

As I was finishing this piece, there were several positive developments. As I have already mentioned, Laura Helmuth resigned from Scientific American, offering the journal a chance to reclaim its former scientific rigor. Marcia McNutt, the president of the United States National Academy of Sciences, wrote a powerful editorial Science is neither red nor blue, published in Science. The University of Michigan, formerly one of the hubs of diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology squandering some US$15M/year, resolved to no longer solicit diversity statements in faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure. A UofM physics professor offered a relatively mild testimony of the damage done by the DEI initiatives and the black lives matter grift, a testimony that was unthinkable only a few years ago. More generally, in the wake of October 7th, multiple institutions adopted political neutrality. These are important first steps in reversing and repairing the damage that was done to scholarship, research, innovation, and teaching over the decades of woke/DEI insanity.

As they say, “One can hope. . . .”

The next link gives FIRE’s list of schools that have adopted institutional neutrality à la the University of Chicago’s Kalven Principles. There are now 29 of them: a good start, but still a drop in the bucket given that there are about 6,000 colleges in the U.S.

A while back Luana debated Holden Thorp about the ideological takeover of science. Here’s a video of that debate, and I don’t think Thorp came out on top