Category: Science

Energy Department unveils roadmap for a national quantum internet

[ad_1] The funding for the network would come from part of the nearly $1.3 billion budget devoted to the National Quantum Initiative. There’s already some progress toward these goals. The Wall Street Journal noted that Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago built a 52-mile quantum network through unused fiber, and it should expand […]

App tracks mental health by studying your phone usage

[ad_1] About 300 people are currently testing PROSIT, roughly half of which are patients. Before you ask: the scientists are well aware of the privacy concerns involved in tracking many of the things you do online. Use of the app requires signing a consent form, and the data is stored in a secure location. You’re […]

KFC hopes to develop the first lab-made chicken nuggets

[ad_1] As elsewhere, the lab-produced meat promises numerous advantages. It’s more environmentally friendly, as it doesn’t require nearly as much resources — KFC points to a study suggesting it requires 100 times less farm land, and cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 25 times. They’re also more ethical by avoiding harm to animals, and healthier due […]

AI helps drone swarms navigate through crowded, unfamiliar spaces

[ad_1] An additional tracking controller, Neural-Swarm, helps the drones compensate for aerodynamic interactions, such as the downwash from a robot flying overhead. It’s already more reliable than a “commercial” controller that doesn’t account for aerodynamics, with far smaller tracking errors. This could be useful for drone light shows, of course, but it could also help […]

Robotic camera backpack shows a day in a beetle’s life

[ad_1] To hit that goal, the team took a lesson from the insect world they’re trying to explore. “Flies are using 10 to 20 percent of their resting energy just to power their brains, most of which is devoted to visual processing,” said the study’s co-author Sawyer Fuller. “To help cut the cost, some flies […]

Astronomers find the first known exposed core of a gas giant

[ad_1] It’s not certain just what led to the ‘naked’ jovian world, but there are two theories. TOI-849b is so close to its star that it completes an orbit in 18 hours, raising the possibility that tidal disruptions or a planetary collision stripped it of gas. Evaporation due to starlight is a possibility, but wouldn’t […]

NASA delays Mars rover launch until at least July 30th

[ad_1] You’ll have to wait longer than you might like to see the Perseverance rover begin its journey to Mars. NASA and United Launch Alliance have delayed blast-off for the Mars 2020 mission from July 22nd to “no earlier than” July 30th. Processing problems with the launch vehicle are to blame, NASA said. A liquid […]

EU will speed up its spaceflight plans in response to SpaceX and China

[ad_1] The modern space race is heating up, and the European Union is acutely aware that it needs to keep pace. Space chief Thierry Breton told Reuters in an interview that the EU is accelerating its plans in light of rapid progress by private companies like SpaceX as well as China’s successes. It’s moving the […]

Astronomers may have spotted light from colliding black holes

[ad_1] Black hole collisions tend not to produce light by their very nature — you may catch gravitational waves, but that’s about it. However, scientists might have just found one of those rare instances where a collision was visible. A team using May 2019 data from both the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and Europe’s […]

ARM chips are inside the world’s most powerful supercomputer

[ad_1] Fujitsu licensed the designs for the processor from ARM, which is owned by Japanese carrier SoftBank. The system cost more than $1 billion and took about six years to design and build. According to The New York Times, researchers are already using Fugaku to help with coronavirus-related research.  In recent years, x86-based systems featuring processors made […]