Mohammad HaniefNASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams safely returned to Earth on March 19 after spending over nine months in space due to delays in the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission. Their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, Fre
Representative Nick Begich said he intervened to block the lease termination for the building housing the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
A collaborative team of architects and builders has completed the first fully 3D-printed residential home in Auckland, New Zealand, and it’s also the largest building of that type in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Paremoremo home, named after the semi-rural suburb where it’s located, was highlighted by Home Magazine NZ in a short video. The low-slung, one-story residence spans over 2,700 square feet on a north-facing hill and incorporates smooth curved geometric surfaces that were facilitated by the novel 3D-printing process.
Tim Dorrington of Dorrington Atcheson Architects chose a concrete block form design due to the low cost and ease of construction, enlisting 3D-printed concrete specialist QOROX for their first full-sized home build.
Three decades ago, in January 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake leveled much of Kobe and killed more than 6,000 people. Has Japan been successful in building on the lessons of that and later disasters to prepare for the next one that will strike these islands?
In the desert areas of Namibia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, research work has revealed unusual structures that are probably due to the activity of an unknown microbiological life form. Unusually small burrows, i.e., tiny tubes that run through the rock in a parallel arrangement from top to bottom, were discovered in marble and limestone of these desert regions. “We were surprised because these tubes are clearly not the result of a geological process,” said Professor Cees Passchier from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), who first came across the phenomenon during geological field work in Namibia. During subsequent sample investigations, evidence of biological material was found. Evidently, microorganisms had perforated the rock. “We don’t currently know whether this is a life form that has become extinct or is still alive somewhere,” added Passchier.
Puzzling discovery in Namibia
Geologist Cees Passchier has been working in Namibia for 25 years, among other places. His research focuses on the geological reconstruction of Precambrian terranes. “We look at the structure of the rocks to find out how continents came together to form the supercontinent Gondwana 500 to 600 million years ago,” explained Passchier. At that time, carbonate deposits formed in the ancient oceans and turned into marble due to pressure and heat. “We noticed strange structures in this marble that were not the result of geological events.” Instead of smooth erosion surfaces, tubes could be seen that were about half a millimeter wide and up to three centimeters long, lined up parallel to one another and forming bands up to ten meters long. Some calcrete crusts had formed on the edges.
In a fun experiment, Max Koch, a researcher at the University of Göttingen in Germany—who also happens to be passionate about homebrewing—decided to use a high-speed camera to capture what occurs while opening a swing-top bottle of homebrew.
When Robert Mettin, who leads the Ultrasound and Cavitation group at the university’s Third Institute of Physics, Biophysics, suggested that Koch should submit the findings to the special “kitchen flows” issue of Physics of Fluids, Koch and his colleagues chose to expand on the home experiment and delve into the novel acoustics and physics at play.
The group found that the sound emitted by opening a pressurized bottle with a swing-top lid isn’t a single shockwave, but rather a very quick “ah” sound. Their high-speed video recordings captured condensation within the bottleneck that vibrated up and down in a standing wave.
End-of-life home health use and duration were lower in Medicare Advantage vs traditional Medicare for nearly all populations.
Medicare-funded home health provides critical support through nursing, social work, rehabilitation, and aide visits for homebound adults needing skilled care. This support is particularly relevant for Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black older adults who access hospice services at lower rates than White adults.1,2
Enrollees in Medicare Advantage (MA), who are disproportionately from racially or ethnically minoritized communities, are less likely to receive home health and use fewer days of services compared with those in traditional Medicare ™.3,4 This study assessed whether MA enrollment was associated with greater racial and ethnic disparities in home health use during the last year of life compared with TM enrollment.
Not long to go now: After more than nine months on the International Space Station, two astronauts are a step closer to returning home following the launch of a crew swap mission on Friday.
A Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon fixed to its top blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 pm (2303 GMT), carrying a four-member team bound for the orbital outpost.
“We celebrate the countless individuals all over the world that have made this journey possible,” said astronaut Nichole Ayers, the designated pilot of the Crew-10 mission, just before launch.
Starship 38 disintegrates just before reaching space and Intuitive Machines Athena lunar lander lands on its side. Watch to learn more.
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Posted in climatology, habitats, solar power, sustainability | Leave a Comment on Finland sets a record with this energy giant capable of powering 30,000 homes and revolutionizing electricity production
In a bold move towards a sustainable future, Helsinki, Finland’s capital, has installed the world’s largest heat pump, a groundbreaking piece of technology that has the capacity to power 30,000 homes. This ambitious project is a significant step in the fight against climate change, utilizing renewable energy sources to provide a reliable and efficient heating system even in the coldest of winters. In this article, we’ll explore how this technological marvel works, its environmental impact, and the potential it has to change energy production on a global scale.
Helsinki’s heat pump represents a major breakthrough in energy technology. The system works by transferring heat from a colder environment to a warmer one, ensuring maximum energy efficiency. One of the most impressive features of this heat pump is its use of carbon dioxide as a refrigerant, which allows the pump to generate heat at temperatures of up to 90°C.
A standout innovation is the oil-free compressor, a key component that ensures the system operates efficiently while minimizing its environmental footprint. This marks the first time such a system has been implemented on this scale, reinforcing Finland’s commitment to adopting sustainable solutions for energy production. By using renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, this heat pump reduces the need for fossil fuels and helps Finland move towards a more sustainable energy future.
