Circa 2008
A theoretical study proposes that magnetic monopoles may appear not as elementary but as emergent particles in complex, strongly-correlated magnetic systems such as spin ice, in analogy to fractional electric charges in quantum Hall systems. This theory explains a mysterious phase transition in spin ice that has been observed experimentally.
Circa 2012
Faraday and Dirac constructed magnetic monopoles using the practical and mathematical tools available to them. Now physicists have engineered effective monopoles by combining modern optics with nanotechnology. Part matter and part light, these magnetic monopoles travel at unprecedented speeds.
In classical physics (as every student should know) there are no sources or sinks of magnetic field, and hence no magnetic monopoles. Even so, a tight bundle of magnetic flux — such as that created by a long string of magnetic dipoles — has an apparent source or sink at its end. If we map the lines of force with a plotting compass, we think we see a magnetic monopole as our compass cannot enter the region of dense flux. In 1,821 Michael Faraday constructed an effective monopole of this sort by floating a long thin bar magnet upright in a bowl of mercury, with the lower end tethered and the upper end free to move like a monopole in the horizontal plane.
A new video upload. Why the story of Asimov’s Foundation is relevant today.
Can our civilization collapse?
Continue reading “Foundation — Why Asimov’s vision is more relevant than ever” »
Samsung thinks it has a better way to develop brain-like chips: borrow existing brain structures. The tech firm has proposed a method that would “copy and paste” a brain’s neuron wiring map to 3D neuromorphic chips. The approach would rely on a nanoelectrode array that enters a large volumes of neurons to record both where the neurons connect and the strength of those connections. You could copy that data and ‘paste’ it to a 3D network of solid-state memory, whether it’s off-the-shelf flash storage or cutting-edge memory like resistive RAM.
Each memory unit would have a conductance that reflects the strength of each neuron connection in the map. The result would be an effective return to “reverse engineering the brain” like scientists originally wanted, Samsung said.
The move could serve as a ‘shortcut’ to artificial intelligence systems that behave like real brains, including the flexibility to learn new concepts and adapt to changing conditions. You might even see fully autonomous machines with true cognition, according to the researchers.
The ZyCoV-D vaccine is also the world’s first DNA vaccine against Covid-19.
Like other vaccines, a DNA vaccine, once administered, teaches the body’s immune system to fight the real virus.
ZyCoV-D uses plasmids — or small rings of DNA that contain genetic information — to deliver the jab between two layers of the skin.
Continue reading “Zydus Cadila: What we know about India’s new Covid vaccines” »
Falcon Heavy is now scheduled to loft Astranis’ first commercial communications satellite to orbit next spring, the San Francisco-based company announced Thursday (Sept. 23).
A new computer model demonstrates that vaccinations have impacts well beyond just preventing disease and death: they can also slow the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Pneumococcal diseases—which include illnesses ranging from inner ear infections to pneumonia and meningitis—are a leading cause of death globally among children under five. While there are effective vaccines against pneumococcal diseases, access is still a challenge for populations in low-income—and some middle income—countries. And antimicrobial resistance to the antibiotics commonly used to treat these infections is a growing problem.
“We wanted to model the value of vaccinating—not only to show that vaccination reduces death or disability from these diseases, but also to quantify whether vaccination can slow antimicrobial resistance,” says Andrew Stringer, an assistant professor of veterinary and global health at NC State.
