Transterrestrialism in the Renaissance, and it’s importance for today’s Space Philosophy.
Mon, Mar 21 at 3 PM CDT.
Interested.
The James Webb Space Telescope has taken one giant step closer in its mission to unlock the mysteries of the universe.
The world’s premier space observatory has successfully completed a number of steps crucial for aligning its 18 gold mirror segments. Having checked this milestone off of Webb’s list, the telescope team expects that the observatory may even exceed the goals it was meant to achieve.
Webb will be able to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and observe some of the first galaxies created after the universe began by observing them through infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye.
The James Webb Space Telescope’s revolutionary technology will study every phase of cosmic history—from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. We’ll present an overview of the telescope, its mission and the some of the science it hopes to reveal. Tune in via our Facebook page for this live virtual presentation presented by Jason T. Archer. No registration required.
While many people in wealthier countries have been vaccinated against COVID-19, there is still a need for vaccination in much of the world. A new vaccine developed at MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center may aid in those efforts, offering an inexpensive, easy-to-store, and effective alternative to RNA vaccines.
In a new paper, the researchers report that the vaccine, which comprises fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein arrayed on a virus-like particle, elicited a strong immune response and protected animals against viral challenge.
The vaccine was designed so that it can be produced by yeast, using fermentation facilities that already exist around the world. The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, is now producing large quantities of the vaccine and is running a clinical trial in Africa.
Dry, hot regions are difficult places to grow plants because the soil dries out quickly. As a result, farmers in arid and semi-arid regions irrigate their fields with buried networks of irrigation tubing and cover the ground with plastic sheets. But plastic sheets are expensive and create waste. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Agricultural Science & Technology have developed a simple, biodegradable ground cover—wax-coated sand—which keeps soil wet and increases crop yields.
To irrigate crops, farmers usually get water from nearby waterways or underground aquifers. These supplies can be rapidly depleted when growing plants in arid regions, where the soil is comprised mostly of sand and can’t hold onto water well. One way to improve irrigated water’s efficiency is to make sure it stays in the soil long enough so that plants’ roots can take it up. Previous studies have shown that ground cover barriers, such as plastic sheets and engineered nanomaterials, can slow evaporation and enhance plant growth and crop yields. However, both could leach unwanted compounds into the soil with unknown long-term impacts. Some plants and animals naturally produce waxy substances that trap and pool water from fog or condensation so that they can access these moisture sources. Taking inspiration from nature, Himanshu Mishra and colleagues wanted to see if they could coat sand with wax, creating an environmentally benign ground cover to control soil evaporation.
The researchers chose purified paraffin wax, a biodegradable substance available in large quantities, for their experiments. They dissolved the wax in hexane and poured silica sand into the mixture. As the solvent evaporated, a 20-nm-thick coating of wax was left behind on the grains. When the team applied the wax-coated sand in a thin layer on an open field in Saudi Arabia, it decreased the loss of soil moisture up to 50–80%. Field trials revealed that tomato, barley and wheat plants mulched with the new material produced substantially more fruit and grain than those grown in uncovered soil. In addition, the microbial community around the plants’ roots and in the soil wasn’t negatively impacted by the waxy mulch, which could have acted as a food source for some of the microbes. This simple nature-inspired technology could make water use more efficient in arid regions, the researchers say.
Two Amazon papers at #QIP2022 could have near-term applications: Mario Berta and colleagues propose a new approach to statistical phase estimation that could en… See more.
New phase estimation technique reduces qubit count, while learning framework enables characterization of noisy quantum systems.
March 16 (Reuters) — Telecoms giant Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) said on Wednesday it had secured new business worth almost $1 billion from the U.S. Department of Defense to provide technical support and network modernization services.
The deal includes contracts for services to the Pentagon, the National Capital Region (NCR) and Fort Belvoir at a combined value of $966.5 million.
Verizon will provide internet-protocol-based services, voice and video services and network-related support aimed at accelerating the department’s digital pivot.
Her fur clothes were mixed with moose brains.
A full-body reconstruction of a Neolithic woman who lived 4,000 years ago is now on display at a museum in Sweden.
