A destructive storm system spawned new tornadoes and heavy rain as it moved east pummeling multiple states. Kentucky’s governor has declared a state of emergency after three confirmed tornadoes. NBC’s Maggie Vespa reports and TODAY’s Al Roker tracks the latest forecast.
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Top tech news: Chinese flying taxi start-up receives initial safety certificate; NASA launches mission to metal-rich asteroid; investments in climate tech fall.
Fusion energy has long been hailed as the holy grail because of its potential for limitless amounts of clean energy. But that promise has trailed reality for decades, with billions of dollars in research leading to few breakthroughs. Now there’s optimism that is about to change, partly because of new startups funded by the likes of Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates.
Yahoo Finance went inside the country’s largest magnetic fusion facility for an exclusive look, to explore the challenges of bringing this technology to commercial use for the latest episode of NEXT.
“The race is on to actually see who can develop this and who can get it to the masses the fastest,” said David Callaway, former editor-in-chief of USA Today and founder of Callaway Climate Insights, a news and information service focused on the business of climate change.
Swiss physicists have achieved a groundbreaking breakthrough in lightning control using laser beams, which could lead to advanced lightning protection systems for critical infrastructure such as airports and rocket launch sites, Science reports.
The study, led by scientists at the École Polytechnique and the University of Geneva, successfully demonstrated the ability to steer lightning using high-powered lasers. This expensive breakthrough could offer enhanced protection against lightning strikes, which can cause significant damage and pose risks to human safety.
“Declining winter snow cover is one of the most obvious and pronounced impacts of climate change in the Alps. Its effects on the functioning and biodiversity of alpine ecosystems are a major concern for people living in Alpine regions and beyond,” said Dr. Michael Bahn.
How can the impacts of climate change alter biodiversity in vast mountain ranges throughout the world? This is what a recent study published in Global Change Biology hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated how decreased levels of vegetation and snow cover in the Alps due to climate change are having adverse effects on the region’s biodiversity. This study holds the potential to help scientists, legislators, and the public better understand the short-and long-term impacts of climate change on regions across the globe.
For the study, the researchers examined variances in soil grassland microbial nitrogen cycling within the Alps during the spring and autumn due to their warming temperatures that are exceedingly more than twice the global average. In the end, the researchers discovered that nitrogen uptake by plant organics were reduced in the spring and autumn by 70 percent and 82 percent, soil microbial biomass was reduced by 19 percent and 38 percent, and the number of harmful bacteria that could have adverse effects on nitrogen production increased 253 percent and 136 percent, respectively. Collectively, the researchers determined that climate change is having an adverse effect on nitrogen cycling within the Alps’ grasslands.
“Findings from the study are not just relevant for cities in Singapore where it is hot all year round, but for other urban areas around the world too,” said Dr. Wan Man Pun.
How can paint be used to combat climate change? This is what a recent study published in Sustainable Cities and Society hopes to address as a team of researchers from Singapore investigated real-world applications regarding how cool paint coatings that reflect the Sun’s heat could be attributed to enabling people to feel up to 34.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) cooler compared to traditional city pavement. This study holds the potential to produce more comfortable city environments, especially with summer heats becoming warmer every year.
For the study, the researchers covered roads, walls, and roofs of an industrialized area of western Singapore consisting of almost 130,000 square feet (12,000 square meters) containing several multi-storied buildings. Over a 24-hour period, the researchers discovered that afternoon temperatures within the coated environment were up to 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) cooler compared to non-coated surroundings. Additionally, the team used the Universal Thermal Climate Index to measure temperature comfort levels for locals walking through the area, discovering these individuals experienced up to 34.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) cooler because of the cool paint coatings.
Chipmaker Nvidia has shown off a clone of our entire planet that could help meteorologists simulate and visualize global weather patterns at an “unprecedented scale,” according to a press release.
The “Earth climate digital twin,” dubbed Earth-2, was designed to help recoup some of the economic losses caused by climate change-driven extreme weather.
Customers can access the digital twin through an API, allowing “virtually any user to create AI-powered emulations to speed delivery of interactive, high-resolution simulations ranging from the global atmosphere and local cloud cover to typhoons and turbulence.”
A team of scientists has successfully mimicked black hole conditions by creating a quantum vortex in superfluid helium, shedding light on gravitational interactions and quantum field theories in curved spacetimes.
Scientists have for the first time created a giant quantum vortex to mimic a black hole in superfluid helium that has allowed them to see in greater detail how analog black holes behave and interact with their surroundings.
Research led by the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with King’s College London and Newcastle University, has created a novel experimental platform: a quantum tornado. They have created a giant swirling vortex within superfluid helium that is chilled to the lowest possible temperatures. Through the observation of minute wave dynamics on the superfluid’s surface, the research team has shown that these quantum tornados mimic gravitational conditions near rotating black holes. The research has been published today in Nature.
The big picture: Sand batteries might not be as efficient for generating electricity as they are for heating, but they could still have a huge impact on climate emissions — about 9% of the heat needed for buildings and industry comes from district heating systems, and 90% of those rely on fossil fuels.
We could then supplement the sand batteries with another alternative form of storage, such as flow batteries, to generate electricity from renewables year-round — completing the transition to a clean energy future.
A superfluid vortex controlled in a lab is helping physicists learn more about the behavior of black holes.
A whirlpool generated in helium cooled to just a fraction above absolute zero mimics the gravitational environment of these objects to such high precision that it’s giving unprecedented insight into how they drag and warp the space-time around them.
“Using superfluid helium has allowed us to study tiny surface waves in greater detail and accuracy than with our previous experiments in water,” explains physicist Patrik Švančara of the University of Nottingham in the UK, who led the research.
