Greetings, dear friends! Let's sum up the hi-tech results of the outgoing week.
Scientists have grown large and fast-growing plankton, irradiating it with a beam of heavy ions
Economically important fish species such as bluefin tuna, yellowtail and flounder feed on plankton until they are large enough to be fed artificial feed.
Scientists have begun experimenting with the heavy ion beam method in an attempt to create larger rotifers. Heavy ion selection is a technique in which cells are exposed to a beam of heavy atomic nuclei, causing mutations much more efficiently than natural processes such as UV light.
Estonian scientists are developing a new type of superfast optical quantum computer
Over the past twenty years, experts have been talking about how someday they will be able to build a full-fledged quantum computer that will perform useful calculations.
In the new discovery of scientists, the main place is given to mixed crystals, which are doped with rare-earth ions, intended for fast quantum computers with optical frequency qubits.
Metallic fuel could be one of the most promising energy sources
Experiments in space microgravity, organized to study the parameters of combustion of metallic fuel, will help make this energy source one of the most promising.
Metals such as iron can be burned in powder form. The process is not accompanied by emissions of environmentally hazardous substances and allows you to get a significant amount of energy.
If you add to this the fact that metals can be produced using renewable energy, the use of metal fuels looks extremely promising.
MIT Researchers Create Prototype Hybrid Electric Motor
Engineers at MIT have developed a prototype hybrid turbo-electric engine for aircraft that can reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 95%. The research results were published in Energy and Environmental Science.
The source of energy in a turboelectric engine will be a gas turbine, which is used in conventional aircraft engines. However, the design of the new engine assumes that the turbine will sit in the cargo hold of the aircraft, driving a generator to generate electricity.
Gene therapy slows down aging in mice in Japan
Experts destroyed cells that cause age-related disorders.
Japanese researchers have stopped the aging mechanisms in mice. The condition of many mice improved: the rodents began to show agility, and their blood sugar levels returned to normal.
In an experiment led by Professor Makoto Nakanishi, the researchers destroyed cells that cause age-related disorders.
It turned out that the aging process is triggered by the GLS1 enzyme, which is also found in humans. A significant rejuvenation of the body occurred after the administration of inhibitors to this enzyme in mice.
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Ibn Salman announced the construction of the innovative city The Line
Three levels are planned in the city: on the first there will be residential buildings and all the infrastructure necessary for life, on the first underground level, official cars will ride, and on the second - ultra-high-speed transport controlled by artificial intelligence - a kind of Hyperloop.
AI will control all processes in the city. At the same time, the city will receive energy from renewable sources.
Construction of The Line will begin in the first quarter of 2021. The project will require hundreds of billions of dollars in investment.
Chinese scientists have deployed a quantum communication system based on drones
An experimental drone-based communication network protected by quantum encryption was demonstrated.
In recent decades, active work has begun on the creation of communication networks with practically "unbreakable" quantum encryption.
China turned out to be the leader in this area, over and over again renewing records for the length and throughput of such networks: remember, just a few days ago, the PRC launched a "quantum" network with a length of almost 5,000 kilometers.
Such systems usually use pairs of entangled photons, transmitting one of them to the recipient. The laws of quantum mechanics do not allow an outsider to unauthorized measure the state of the transmitted photon, while not giving himself away by changing the corresponding state of the second.
American scientists have found out where a person has GPS
A group of scientists from Southwestern Texas University has established, thanks to which a person can easily memorize the route, navigate the terrain and in space, and also what processes are responsible for this.
Ten years ago, cells of time and memory were discovered, which were isolated from samples of laboratory rats responsible for remembering. Due to their work, the ordering of committed actions in episodic memory is achieved.
The discovery, made by the researchers, may not only elucidate the causes of congenital navigation in humans, but also help treat diseases that are associated with memory loss.
Scientific work carried out by scientists has affected the identification of such structures in humans. They were eventually found in the front of the hippocampus.
Blind person restored vision with artificial eye detail
Israeli doctors have successfully transplanted an artificial eye piece - the cornea - into a blind person. Thanks to this, the man's eyesight returned.
The corneal implant is placed in a pocket between the conjunctiva and the sclera of the eye. The first person to undergo such an operation was a 78-year-old man who lost his sight ten years ago.
The implant was created from a porous material that looks like an extracellular matrix. A transplant of such an artificial part is even better than a real organ transplant: the first one takes root faster and cannot cause infection.
The operation to install the implant took an hour. After rehabilitation, the patient was able to see people and read the text.
Engineers have created a smart airgel that turns air into drinking water
To extract water from the air, a team led by Professor Ho Gim Wei of NUS's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department created airgel, a solid material that weighs almost nothing.
It looks like a sponge under a microscope, but it doesn't need to be squeezed to release the water it absorbs from the air. It also does not require a battery to operate.
The smart airgel autonomously collects water molecules from the air, condenses them into liquid and releases the water.
Tree rings helped restore solar activity over a thousand years
Astronomers were able to reconstruct solar activity before 969 using data on the concentration of a carbon isotope in tree rings.
The processes taking place on the Sun can be observed only indirectly. Sunspots, for example, show the activity of our star - the more there are, the more active the star is.
Despite the fact that sunspots have been known since ancient times, their number began to be taken into account regularly only after the invention of the telescope about 400 years ago.
Because of this, we now know that the number of spots changes over cycles that last 11 years, and that there are long periods of strong and weak activity, which also affects the Earth's climate.
