Look Out Lithium, Sodium Ion Batteries Might Soon Replace You

Parker Davis August 29, 2021

The cost of lithium is expensive, as getting lithium out of the ground is expensive, and also not healthy for the environment, A new graphene could make the much cheaper sodium ion battery as efficient as the lithium battery, but at much lower cost, and relying on a materia that is readily available, sodium. The name if the graphene is the Janus graphene.

Janus Graphene Could Create Sustainable Sodium-Ion Batteries

From www.azonano.com
2021-08-26 16:02:00

Excerpt:

The approach is built on a novel type of graphene with the ability to store sodium, which is one of the world’s most widely used and cheapest metal ions. The outcomes revealed that the capacity matches today’s lithium-ion batteries.

Although lithium ions perform better for energy storage, lithium is a costly metal concerning its long-time supply and environmental issues.

Sodium is an abundant low-cost material and is a major constituent in seawater (and in kitchen salt). This turns sodium-ion batteries into an attractive and sustainable alternative for decreasing the requirements for critical raw materials. However, challenges lie ahead in terms of elevating the capacity.

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Novel Surface Properties Possible with new Light-Power Nanprinting

Parker Davis August 29, 2021

A promising new method of nanopronting that uses light might enable scientists to create new meta surfaces with novel properties yet to be discovered.

New light-controlled nanoprinting for new meta-surfaces • College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

From news.engineering.iastate.edu
2021-08-26 17:56:30

Excerpt:

Jaeyoun Kim, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and In-Ho Cho, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, have received a new $525,000 award from the National Science Foundation to develop single-step, rapidly reconfigurable grayscale nanoprinting by light-controlled nanocapillary effect.

Kim and Cho’s research explores using light to control certain polymers’ height of capillary rise, and, in turn, enabling ultrahigh-resolution grayscale nanoprinting.

The collected data will also allow them to train machine-learning models to seek the optimal design of meta-surfaces and their manufacturing. Meta-surfaces are arrays of individual nanoscale elements. Meta-surfaces can be used for novel applications like generating color without using dyes, killing germs without harmful chemicals, and creating a hydrophobic shield for solar panels and window panes.

Kim and Cho will integrate nanomanufacturing technology, data science and…

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Finally, AI Will Have Brain-Scale Network Power Thanks to Trillion-Transistor Chip

Parker Davis August 29, 2021

Cerebras Upgrades Trillion-Transistor Chip to Train ‘Brain-Scale’ AI

From singularityhub.com
2021-08-27 14:00:10
Edd Gent
Excerpt:

Much of the recent progress in AI has come from building ever-larger neural networks. A new chip powerful enough to handle “brain-scale” models could turbo-charge this approach.

Chip startup Cerebras leaped into the limelight in 2019 when it came out of stealth to reveal a 1.2-trillion-transistor chip. The size of a dinner plate, the chip is called the Wafer Scale Engine and was the world’s largest computer chip. Earlier this year Cerebras unveiled the Wafer Scale Engine 2 (WSE-2), which more than doubled the number of transistors to 2.6 trillion.

Now the company has outlined a series of innovations that mean its latest chip can train a neural network with up to 120 trillion parameters. For reference, OpenAI’s revolutionary GPT-3 language model contains 175 billion parameters. The largest neural network to date, which was trained by Google, had 1.6 trillion.

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Who is ISIS-K?

Mark Clouse August 29, 2021

ISIS-K, the terror group that killed US troops in Kabul, and its complicated relationship with the Taliban

From www.washingtonexaminer.com
2021-08-26 20:11:35
Jerry Dunleavy
Excerpt:

The U.S. military says the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan was behind the deadly suicide bombing attacks in Kabul on Thursday that killed numerous U.S. service members, which won’t surprise Western intelligence officials or the ruling Taliban.

CENTCOM Commander, General Kenneth McKenzie said Thursday afternoon that 12 U.S. service members were killed and 15 more were injured, noting the suicide bombers are “assessed to have been ISIS fighters.” The general said he believed the suicide bomber made it through Taliban lines and was at a U.S.-controlled “interface point” when he detonated himself.

“We believe it is their desire to continue those attacks, and we expect those attacks to continue,” McKenzie warned. “If we can find out who is associated with this, we will go after them.”

He said the United States believed ISIS would like to conduct more walk-in suicide attacks, as well as suicide car bombs or rocket…

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Switching Sodium Chloride to Choride Multiples Battery Storage by Six

Parker Davis August 29, 2021

An international team of researchers led by Stanford University have developed rechargeable batteries that can store up to 6 times more charge than ones that are currently commercially available

Researchers make rechargeable batteries that store six times more charge – Techexplore.com

An international team of researchers led by Stanford University have developed rechargeable batteries that can store up to six times more charge than ones that are currently commercially available.

The advance, detailed in a new paper published Aug. 25 in the journal Nature, could accelerate the use of rechargeable batteries and puts battery researchers one step closer toward achieving two top stated goals of their field: creating a high-performance rechargeable battery that could enable cellphones to be charged only once a week instead of daily and electric vehicles that can travel six times farther without a recharge.

The new so-called alkali metal-chlorine batteries, developed by a team of researchers led by Stanford chemistry Professor Hongjie Dai and doctoral candidate Guanzhou Zhu, relies on the back-and-forth chemical conversion of sodium chloride (Na/Cl₂) or lithium chloride (Li/Cl₂) to chlorine.

From www.reddit.com
2021-08-26 17:35:13
/u/QuantumThinkology
Excerpt:

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People Think Scale Model of Blue origin is Dildo

Ivo Fysic August 27, 2021

No, the Scale Model of Blue Origin’s Rocket Is Not an Operable Dildo

From futurism.com
2021-08-26 14:15:37
Victor Tangermann
Excerpt:

Model rocket maker Estes has released a 1/66 scale model of Blue Origin’s dick-shaped New Shepard rocket — and we are here to warn you that whatever it looks like, it is not an operable sex toy.

No, folks, this plastic object that bears a striking resemblance to a penis is not meant to pleasure oneself.

That’s in spite of its sticker price of $69.99, which admittedly sounds like a crude joke. But just to reiterate, as far as we can tell, it’s serious. It just happens to be based on a rocket that, to the bemusement of experts, looks a lot like a dong.

To be fair, as far as model rockets go, it’s kinda awesome. The model can be launched 400 feet into the air — if you’re willing to shell out extra for the launch pad, an electronic launch controller, engines, and some wadding for recovery, which all works out to a total of $109.99.

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Supercomputers to Get Even Faster with Optical Tech Transmissions

Freedomist Curator August 26, 2021

Optical Technology sends information from one point to another with no need for physical networks to accomplish this task. This aspect of optical transmission could be key in freeing up supercompter processing power to make these already fast computers even faster.

New energy-saving technology can boost the performance of supercomputers

From www.techexplorist.com
2021-08-25 14:52:22
Amit Malewar
Excerpt:

Optical technology can potentially speed up the processing speed that data centers need for efficient communication and analysis operations. Scientists are interested in optical-based information processing for performing the high-speed calculations necessary in machine learning tasks.

The core advantage of optical technology is that it transmits information without any physical interference from cables.

In today’s date, AI programs are being used for many tasks. These programs often require accelerators to carry out rapid calculations using minimal power. For now, while optical technology could theoretically meet that need, it has not yet reached the applied stage – despite a half-century of research. That’s because optical computing and decision-making do not yet save either time or energy.

Designing optical computing devices remains a challenge. Although the computations are performed rapidly, the obstacle comes in transferring the results to memory at that same…

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Biden Offers Little Clarity in Defining Spying for Foreign Researchers

Freedomist Editor August 26, 2021

Biden vows clarity on foreign research ties for academics

From www.timeshighereducation.com
2021-08-24 23:15:41

Excerpt:

The Biden administration is promising a quick push to clear up confusion among universities and their academic staff over what foreign research activities need to be reported to the government – and facing scepticism given the extent of the problem.

The White House science adviser, Eric Lander, has set an early November deadline for giving federal funding agencies “clear and effective” guidance for researcher disclosures that encourage global scientific cooperation while guarding against national security threats.

The long-standing problem, which universities fear could lead to international partners being scared off, has become more fraught in recent years, with a Trump administration crackdown on researchers having ties to China – which largely involved arresting those who did not fully disclose foreign affiliations on grant applications – exacerbated by broader anti-Asian discrimination during the Covid pandemic and potentially by an impending US intelligence…

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Now the Vatican Has Joined the Fight Against Killer Robots

Paul Collier August 26, 2021

Push to ban ‘killer robots’ boosted by Vatican, pope

From www.ucanews.com
2021-08-25 04:39:00

Excerpt:

Among the many threats to human life and dignity, the Vatican is making sure that the widening use of lethal autonomous weapons systems worldwide is not reduced to a natural progression of technology that people learn to accept and live with.

Vatican officials have joined Pope Francis in repeatedly expressing trepidation over such weapons, known as LAWS, saying their use poses a serious threat to innocent civilians.

The most recent caution against so-called “killer robots” came from the Vatican Permanent Observer Mission to the U.N. agencies in Geneva in early August during a meeting of the 2021 Group of Government Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

In the first of three daily statements to the group, the Vatican said Aug. 3 that a potential challenge was “the use of swarms of ‘kamikaze’ mini drones” and other advanced weaponry that utilize artificial intelligence in its targeting and attack modes. LAWS, the Vatican said,…

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Electric Cargo Ship That Drives Itself

Freedomist Editor August 26, 2021

World’s first autonomous, 7MWh electric cargo ship to make voyage with zero crew onboard

From electrek.co
2021-08-25 17:40:43
/u/thispickleisntgreen
Excerpt:

A Norwegian company called Yara International claims to have created the world’s first zero-emission ship that can also transport cargo autonomously. The Yara Birkeland electric cargo ship was first conceptualized in 2017 but now looks to make its first voyage with no crew members onboard later this year in Norway.

Yara International is a Norwegian company that was founded in 1905 to combat the rising famine in Europe at the time. The company created the world’s first nitrogen fertilizer, which remains its largest business focus today.

In addition to its perpetual battle against hunger, Yara focuses on emissions abatement and sustainable agricultural practices. While the company wants to continue finding success in feeding the planet, it believes it can also do so sustainably.

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