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This simple design change could finally fix solid-state batteries

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Fri, 01/09/2026 - 4:50am
Scientists in South Korea have discovered a way to make all-solid-state batteries safer and more powerful using inexpensive materials. Instead of adding costly metals, they redesigned the battery’s internal structure to help lithium ions move faster. This simple structural tweak boosted performance by up to four times. The work points to cheaper, safer batteries for phones, electric vehicles, and beyond.
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Stanford’s AI spots hidden disease warnings that show up while you sleep

Computers and Math from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 11:39pm
Stanford researchers have developed an AI that can predict future disease risk using data from just one night of sleep. The system analyzes detailed physiological signals, looking for hidden patterns across the brain, heart, and breathing. It successfully forecast risks for conditions like cancer, dementia, and heart disease. The results suggest sleep contains early health warnings doctors have largely overlooked.
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An old jeweler’s trick could change nuclear timekeeping

Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 6:47pm
A team of physicists has discovered a surprisingly simple way to build nuclear clocks using tiny amounts of rare thorium. By electroplating thorium onto steel, they achieved the same results as years of work with delicate crystals — but far more efficiently. These clocks could be vastly more precise than current atomic clocks and work where GPS fails, from deep space to underwater submarines. The advance could transform navigation, communications, and fundamental physics research.
Categories: Science

An old jeweler’s trick could change nuclear timekeeping

Space and time from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 6:47pm
A team of physicists has discovered a surprisingly simple way to build nuclear clocks using tiny amounts of rare thorium. By electroplating thorium onto steel, they achieved the same results as years of work with delicate crystals — but far more efficiently. These clocks could be vastly more precise than current atomic clocks and work where GPS fails, from deep space to underwater submarines. The advance could transform navigation, communications, and fundamental physics research.
Categories: Science

Does Free Will Exist? Part 4: An Emergent Universe

Universe Today Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 4:13pm

But we’re not going for one thing or another, are we? We’re here to explore ideas – that’s most of the fun anyway. And there’s one more aspect of physics that takes part in the free will discussion, and that’s the concept of emergence.

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A white dwarf’s cosmic feeding frenzy revealed by NASA

Space and time from Science Daily Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 4:03pm
Using NASA’s IXPE, astronomers captured an unprecedented view of a white dwarf star actively feeding on material from a companion. The data revealed giant columns of ultra-hot gas shaped by the star’s magnetic field and glowing in intense X-rays. These features are far too small to image directly, but X-ray polarization allowed scientists to map them with surprising precision. The results open new doors for understanding extreme binary star systems.
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To Keep Water Liquid, the Red Planet Needed to Freeze

Universe Today Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 12:55pm

Mars has a curious past. Rovers have shown unequivocal evidence that liquid water existed on its surface, for probably at least 100 years. But climate models haven’t come up with how exactly that happened with what we currently understand about what the Martian climate was like back then. A new paper, published in the journal AGU Advances by Eleanor Moreland, a graduate student at Rice University, and her co-authors, has a potential explanation for what might have happened - liquid lakes on the Red Planet would have hid under small, seasonal ice sheets similar to the way they do in Antarctica on Earth.

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Tree bark microbiome has important overlooked role in climate

New Scientist Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 11:00am
Tree bark has a total surface area similar to all of the land area on Earth. It is home to a wide range of microbial species unknown to science, and they can either take up or emit gases that have a warming effect on the climate
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Some quantum computers might need more power than supercomputers

New Scientist Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 9:00am
A preliminary analysis suggests that industrially useful quantum computers designs come with a broad spectrum of energy footprints, including some larger than the most powerful existing supercomputers
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City-sized iceberg has turned into a giant swimming pool

New Scientist Feed - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 7:00am
Satellite photos show meltwater on the surface of iceberg A23a collecting in an unusual way, which may be a sign that the huge berg is about to break apart
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