Rare Earth Element That Glows in Your Phone Now Easier to Find with New Tool

Rare Earth Element That Glows in Your Phone Now Easier to Find with New Tool

Parker Davis August 31, 2021

New sensor detects rare earth element terbium

From www.futurity.org
2021-08-31 14:16:44
Gail McCormick-Penn State
Excerpt:

A new luminescent sensor can detect terbium, a valuable rare earth element, from complex environmental samples like acid mine waste.

The sensor takes advantage of a protein that very specifically binds to rare earth elements. It could help develop a domestic supply of these metals, which smart phones, electric car batteries, and energy efficient lighting require. A paper describing the sensor appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Terbium, one of the rarest of the rare earth elements, produces the green color in cell phone displays and also has a role in high-efficiency lighting and solid-state devices. However, there are a variety of chemical, environmental, and political challenges to obtaining terbium and other rare earth elements from the environment.

Developing new sources of these metals also requires robust detection methods, which poses another challenge. For example, the gold standard method of detecting rare earth elements in a sample—a type of mass spectrometry called ICP-MS—is expensive and not portable. Portable methods, however, aren’t as sensitive and do not perform well in complex environmental samples, where acidic conditions and other metals can interfere with detection.

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Taliban Celebrate As Last American Leaves Kabul Airport

Parker Davis August 31, 2021

Videos show Taliban taking over Kabul airport and celebrating with gunfire after US withdrawal

From www.businessinsider.co.za
2021-08-31 15:36:36

Excerpt:

The US has officially withdrawn from Afghanistan, with its last jet taking off from the country on Monday night.

Videos showed Taliban fighters celebrating the US exit with gunfire, and seizing Kabul’s airport, where thousands of Afghans had desperately tried to flee after they took over the country.

BBC News broadcast footage of the gunfire, with Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet saying she could hear celebratory tracer fire and guns going off. She said it was…

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Teacher Who Refuses to Use Preferred Genders Vindicated by VA Supreme Court

Parker Davis August 31, 2021

Virginia Supreme Court Backs Teacher Who Spoke Against Transgender Policy at Board Meeting

From www.edweek.org
2021-08-31 15:03:29

Excerpt:

Virginia’s highest court has upheld an injunction ordering the reinstatement, on free speech grounds, of a teacher who was suspended after speaking up at a school board meeting against a proposed policy requiring respect for transgender students.

The Virginia Supreme Court on Monday ruled without dissent in favor of Tanner Cross, an elementary school physical education teacher in the Loudoun County school district in suburban Washington.

Cross spoke at a May 25 meeting of the Loudoun County school board against a then-proposed policy that would, among other things, require school staff members to use the chosen names and pronouns of transgender students.

“I’m a teacher but I serve God first,” Cross said as a public speaker at the meeting. “And I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it is against my religion.”

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Hospitals, Medical Care Collapsing in Afghanistan

Parker Davis August 31, 2021

Afghanistan’s healthcare system near collapse, aid agencies warn

From www.channelnewsasia.com
2021-08-30 19:08:55

Excerpt:

Afghanistan’s healthcare system is at risk of collapse, two major aid agencies told Reuters, after foreign donors stopped providing aid following the Taliban takeover.

After the United States withdraw the bulk of its remaining troops last month, the Taliban accelerated its military campaign, taking control of the capital Kabul on Aug 15.

International donors including the World Bank and European Union froze funding to Afghanistan shortly afterwards.

“One of the great risks for the health system here is basically to collapse because of lack of support,” said Filipe Ribeiro, Afghanistan representative for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), one of the largest medical aid agencies in the country.

“The overall health system in Afghanistan is understaffed, under-equipped and underfunded, for years. And the great risk is that this underfunding will continue over time.”

Necephor Mghendi, Afghanistan head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), said…

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If You Don’t Eat It, You Can Use It as Fuel for Your Home

Parker Davis August 31, 2021

We Could Power Our Homes With Food Scraps. Here’s What’s Stopping Us

From singularityhub.com
2021-08-26 14:00:15
Dr. Ananya Mukherjee
Excerpt:

Imagine if you could power your kettle using the energy generated from the vegetable cuttings quietly breaking down in your kitchen’s compost bin. That reality might not be so far off with the growth of biogas technology.

Biogas is a green alternative to fossil fuels that not only helps to reduce toxic emissions but also provides cheap, clean energy. It’s made up of a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide and a little hydrogen sulfide and water vapor, all of which is produced by microbes that live on organic raw material within a airtight digester container….

People we spoke to were concerned that local digesters would produce a nasty smell, or that their industrial appearance would blight the landscape. In fact, many digesters are fairly small, and would only produce smells if the system broke down.

Other stumbling blocks include a lack of technical expertise in building or maintaining digesters, a lack of incentives to attract local businesses, and the high cost of the digester, which, depending on its size, can cost between £12,000 and £158,000.

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Antibody Might Fight Pan-Covid Viruses

Parker Davis August 30, 2021

Scientists are looking at some human antiobodies that seem to be effective against a range of Covid viruses. The scientists believe they may be able to create a pan-coronavirus antibody if they continue with their research. the team comes from the University of Washington.

This is promising and might put an end to the constantly changing advice and goals as all throughout the pandemic promises have been broken. What began as “14 days to flatten the curve” has become “every six montha new shot” and endless “variants” that force the vaccinated and unvaccinated to go back to economically devastating and mental health harming lockdowns. The situation in Australia has become a rabid police state that threatens to forever alter the political landscape in ways that look more like China than Australia!

This research could spell the end of the whole thing, therefore it will be fraught with obstacles and propaganda aimed at preventing it from getting unto the marketplace. The coronareich regimen has been too “good” at transferring power from the people to a sadistic ruling class to simply let it go.

Scientists identify antibodies to develop pan-coronavirus vaccine

From timesofindia.indiatimes.com
2021-08-08 09:46:13

Excerpt:

NEW YORK: Scientists have discovered human antibodies that can neutralise several different coronaviruses and pave the way for a pan-coronavirus vaccine.
These antibodies have been detected in some people who have recovered from Covid-19, said the team at University of Washington.
The study, appearing in the journal Science, describes research on five such human monoclonal antibodies that can cross-react with a number of beta-coronaviruses.
The team examined certain memory B cells from Covid-19 convalescent donors. Memory B cells are white blood cells that recognise and respond to pathogens that have tried to attack the body during a previous encounter.
Out of five promising antibodies that they isolated, the scientists decided to concentrate on one designated S2P6. Molecular structure analysis and functional studies showed that this human monoclonal antibody had impressive breadth: it was able to neutralize three different subgenera of beta-coronaviruses. The scientists observed…

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China Ready to Reconfigure Entertainment Industry to New CCP Plan

Parker Davis August 30, 2021

It looks like China is about to take a hard look at its own entertainment industry, It might even be about to give it the treatment that was just given to its big tech corporations, all of which have been recently brought to heel under direct orders by Chairman Xi himself, who was beginning to rightfully feel threatened by the kind of power that was being created in these massive corporations.

It goes without saying China would target the entertainment industry next, to make sure that none of the messages being shared in this venue is out of step with the new CCP plan as reflected in Xi Xinping Thoughts, now being read by school children throughout China everywhere, learning it like its the gospel of Chairman Xi himself, the benevolent priest-king harmonizing heaven and earth for the purpose of developing socialism with Chinese characterists.

China’s anti-corruption watchdog slams entertainment industry

From www.ft.com
2021-08-29 06:31:28

Excerpt:

China’s anti-corruption watchdog has hit out at the country’s entertainment industry as Beijing tightens its grip on online celebrity culture and widens the scope of a crackdown on wealth and big business.

A statement posted on the website of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection this weekend cited a wave of “negative news” and singled out several celebrities, including former Prada ambassador Zheng Shuang, who is accused of tax evasion, and Canadian-Chinese star Kris Wu, who was recently arrested on suspicion of rape.

The watchdog’s comments came after China’s internet regulator on Friday set out a list of 10 measures to address issues in the sector, adding that it would “resolve the problem of chaos” in online fan culture that it said was having a negative impact on young people. The measures include banning…

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Grace is a Robot Who Takes Care of Covid Patients

Parker Davis August 30, 2021

A robot named Grace is working to help humans during the Covid crsis. She is a humanoid nurse styled after Sophia, but she’s programmed for medical care.

Meet Grace, a robot nurse who cares for those most in need

From www.cvbj.biz
2021-08-29 07:33:59

Excerpt:

This humanoid nurse robot is capable of caring for COVID-19 patients 24 hours a day.

Most of the robots that we know are machines that have practically no expression whatsoever, but if they were machines that we wanted to focus on humane treatment, it is likely that designing them to resemble a human being would be the best option.

Now Hanson robotics strikes back with a new healthcare-focused robot based on Sophia, another popular project. Now they have introduced Grace designed to interact primarily with the elderly and those isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you can see in the images and in the video, it is a humanoid robot that is dressed in a blue nurse’s uniform and that even has facial expressions very close to those offered by human beings.

The good thing about this robot is that it is equipped with sensors including a chest thermal imaging camera to detect patients’ temperature and pulse. This will allow to know if a patient, for example, has a fever, without…

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Women of Afghanistan Already Being Oppressed by Taliban

Parker Davis August 30, 2021

The women left behind in Afghanistan are not willing to stop fighting for basic human rights, and the Taliban appears already set to oppress the women of this land under their militant version of Islam.

The Taliban said women wouldn’t face discrimination. They already are

From rss.cnn.com
2021-08-29 13:43:00

Excerpt:

As many women are trying to leave Afghanistan, others are staying behind despite the Taliban’s history of denying women’s basic rights. CNN’s Anna Coren speaks to two individuals who are fighting for the rights of those who remain.

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Bitcoin’s Early Censorship Fork in the Road

Parker Davis August 30, 2021

Bitcoin’s Censorship-Resistance Was a Step Change in History – Coindesk

From www.coindesk.com
2021-07-22 07:00:00

Excerpt:

When he wasn’t getting enough attention from the public back in 2017, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon used to play this game: He’d just say something dismissive about bitcoin and it was sure to put him in the headlines.

So, a prominent entrepreneur at the time, Adam Ludwin, then CEO of early enterprise blockchain company Chain, decided to play along.

In a letter posted on his company’s blog, Ludwin argued to Dimon (and, presumably, his true audience, the many curious folks the open letter was sure to reach) that the quality that distinguished cryptocurrency and made it uniquely valuable was something called “censorship resistance.” Ludwin wrote:

“Nothing can stop me from sending bitcoin to anyone I please. Nothing can stop me from executing code on Ethereum. Nothing can stop me from storing files on Filecoin. As long as I have an internet connection and pay the network’s transaction fee, denominated in its crypto asset, I am free to do what I want.”

Censorship resistance is a jargony way of saying speech, or any other activity, that can’t be vetoed or stopped. Ludwin might be right that it’s a killer feature of distributed ledgers, but it goes further. Censorship resistance is also a step change in the history of political philosophy.

It’s an idea that evolved from prior ones, going all the way back to the earliest days of Western civilization (at least). In particular, though, our modern conception of the right to state one’s opinion, or free expression.