Today's Tech News: Notable or Not?

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-chinese-teams-primacy-quantum.html "quantum primacy is the performance of calculations that are not feasible on conventional computers... thus far have been met with skepticism... In this new effort, both teams are claiming... no room for doubt... In the first effort... The researchers claim their machine was capable of sampling the output  10 23  times as fast as a supercomputer... The second effort... researchers found the machine capable of estimating sample calculations up to 1000 times as fast as the best supercomputers"

https://www.titech.ac.jp/english/news/2021/062171 "The team focused on poly (isosorbide carbonate), or "PIC," a type of bio-based polycarbonate that has garnered much attention as an alternative to petroleum-based polycarbonates. PIC is produced using a non-toxic material derived from glucose called isosorbide (ISB) as a monomer. The interesting part is that the carbonate links that join the ISB units can be severed using ammonia (NH3) in a process known as ‘ammonolysis’. The process produces urea, a nitrogen-rich molecule that is widely used as a fertilizer" Related:   Hard-To-Recycle Plastics Are Now Being Made Into Zero Waste “Concrete” Blocks https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/recycled-plastic-concrete-37041922 Researchers building green fertilizer system to reuse wastes, cut greenhouse gas emissions https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/998970 Chemical fertilizer is a climate disaster. Can high-tech biology fix it? https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/food-and

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3154359/chinese-scientists-hail-breakthrough-could-produce-large "process uses tail gas containing carbon monoxide and dioxide... to create a synthesised cell protein called Clostridium autoethanogenum... the gases go through a series of processes including fermentation, oxidation, distillation and dehydration that converts the nitrogen and carbon into organic material... natural synthesis of proteins... is slow and inefficient, resulting in a low protein content... new process can overcome these barriers and produce a high-protein material in just 22 seconds"

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/10/29/new-tech-to-recover-pure-silicon-from-end-of-life-solar-cells/ "able to deliver recycled silicon with a purity of up to 99.9984%. The recycling cost for 1 kg solar cell with this process is estimated at $68.9 and the total profit after recycling a 1 kg solar cell is calculated to be $185.4... also said to enable the recovery of aluminum, silver, and lead as aluminum hydroxide, silver chloride, and lead oxide, respectively" Related: Solar panels: we need to recycle parts of them to use again and avoid a mountain of waste https://techxplore.com/news/2021-11-solar-panels-recycle-mountain.html Recyclable, back-contact solar panel from the Netherlands https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/12/09/recyclable-back-contact-solar-panel-from-the-netherlands The surprising appliance that could make solar panels easier to produce and recycle https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2023/04/the-surprising-appliance-that-could-make-solar-panels-easier-to-produce

https://news.rpi.edu//content/2021/10/21/need-massive-space-telescope-inspires-lightweight-flexible-holographic-lens Very big development for the future of space telescopes... "lightweight flexible lens, many meters in diameter, that could be rolled for launch and unfurled in space... We use two spherical waves of light to produce the hologram, which gives us fine control over the diffractive grating recorded on the film, and the effect it has on light — either separating light with super sensitivity, or focusing light with high resolution" Related: Researchers devise new membrane mirrors for large space-based telescopes https://www.optica.org/en-us/about/newsroom/news_releases/2023/april/researchers_devise_new_membrane_mirrors_for_large/ Condor telescope reveals a new world for astrophysicists https://phys.org/news/2024-03-condor-telescope-reveals-world-astrophysicists.html Ultrablack thin-film coating could make next-gen telescopes even better https://phys.org/news/2024-03-

https://vtx.vt.edu/articles/2021/09/cals-powered-food-waste.html "uses highly tunable, abundant, and cost-effective raw materials... waste-derived carbon materials as the host for metal anodes could significantly reduce alkali metal usage per battery... can modify the composition of the food... could take the proteins and lipids out, along with some of the minerals, to see how it impacts battery performance... the essential compounds of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin after thermal treatment could sufficiently work for a battery" See also:  Healable carbon fiber composite offers path to long-lasting, sustainable materials https://www.me.washington.edu/news/article/2021-11-03/healable-carbon-fiber-composite Related: Here’s how food waste can generate clean energy https://www.happetizo.com/2022/03/heres-how-food-waste-can-generate-clean Study proposes profitable ways to repurpose industrial waste https://news.osu.edu/spinning-food-processing-waste-into-gold/ New method ex

https://futurism.com/nasa-employee-spacex-starship/amp "NASA Jet Propulsion Lab system architect Casey Handmer is impressed with SpaceX’s progress... Two years ago Starship was a design concept and a mock up... Today it’s a 95 percent complete prototype that will soon fly to space... It’s a continuing and dedicated attempt to achieve the ‘Holy Grail’ of rocketry, a fully and rapidly reusable orbital class rocket that can be mass manufactured... is going to render many of the agency’s grand ambitions moot" Related: Proposing a new idea for spacecraft propulsion that involves dynamic soaring https://phys.org/news/2022-12-idea-spacecraft-propulsion-involves-dynamic.html Collaborating to build a more efficient rocket https://phys.org/news/2024-01-collaborating-efficient-rocket.html

https://science.ku.dk/english/press/news/2021/innovative-chip-built-by-ucph-physicists-resolves-quantum-headache/ "a milestone on the long road to a semiconducting quantum computer... To get more powerful quantum processors, we have to not only increase the number of qubits, but also the number of simultaneous operations, which is exactly what we did... The four spin qubits in the chip are made of the semiconducting material gallium arsenide. Situated between the four qubits is a larger quantum dot that connects the four qubits to each other, and which... tune all of the qubits simultaneously" A comment appearing on Reddit: "This looks like another significant milestone in realizing science fiction awesome quantum computing technology and not too very long from now. I bet we see this come into practical use before 2025. The big achievement here, if I am understanding this correctly, is that you need way more qubits in concert and properly controlled and entangled to ena

https://www.ucdavis.edu/health/news/detector-advance-could-lead-cheaper-easier-medical-scans "no after-the-fact [image] reconstruction is needed... Images can also be created more quickly... potentially even in real time... potential to create higher quality images using a lower radiation dose... PET scans are currently expensive and are technically limited in some ways... This new discovery involves a compact equipment setup and could lead to inexpensive, easy and accurate scans of the human body [for the type of scans that use] radioactive isotopes"

https://news.curtin.edu.au/media-releases/new-curtin-study-solves-energy-storage-and-supply-puzzle/ "also... can predict which ionic liquid is likely to be the best performing for fast charging and long-lasting energy storage... a breakthrough for any battery-run devices and technologies reliant on the fast and reliable supply of electricity, including smart phones and tablets"

https://www.osakafu-u.ac.jp/english-news/pr20211028_2e/ "The insight obtained from this study allowed the team to fabricate a high capacity Li2S-based nanocomposite cathode using a solid electrolyte with oxidation tolerance. The next step for the research team is to turn this creation into an all-solid-state lithium-sulfur battery with twice the energy density of a lithium-ion battery" Related: Solid-State Batteries Are Here and They're Going to Change How We Live https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a38349967/solid-state-lithium-batteries/?utm_source=reddit.com

https://www.osa.org/en-us/about/newsroom/news_releases/2021/high-speed_laser_writing_method_could_pack_500_ter/ Lasers pack glass disc with permanent data... Discrete flaws are created in glass via laser. Each flaw has 2 different optical properties. Each flaw has 3 spatial coordinates. So each flaw has 2^5 states = 32 normal bits. Can write at 230 kilobytes  (100+ pages of text) per second. "...physical mechanism we use is generic," But, read speed needs improvement.

https://www.llnl.gov/news/tube-tube-structure-going-strong "Porous materials... with ultra-light weight and large surface area for wide-ranging applications, have recently achieved near-ideal linear scaling between stiffness and density... process to transform fully dense, 3D-printed polymeric beams into graphitic carbon hollow tube-in-tube sandwich structures, where... the inner and outer tubes are connected through a network of struts...  applications... mechanical shock absorbers, thermal and acoustic insulation, flexible battery and catalyst scaffolds" Related: New carbon nanotube-based foam promises superior protection against concussions https://phys.org/news/2022-12-carbon-nanotube-based-foam-superior-concussions.html Eco-friendly foam to help make cargo shipping more sustainable https://www.tbsnews.net/tech/eco-friendly-foam-help-make-cargo-shipping-more-sustainable-762498

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/enphase-energy-launches-iq8-industry-120000818.html "Many homeowners often assume their solar systems will function if the sun is shining, even during a power outage. This has unfortunately not been true until today... comes in four different configurations: the first is Solar Only ; the second is Sunlight Backup  with no battery; the third is Home Essentials Backup  with a small battery; and the fourth is Full Energy Independence  with a large battery... Enabling a customer to start with any size Enphase battery [or no battery at all] and grow over time" Related: Generac PWRcell Systems https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/power/generac-pwrcell.html Northern Arizona Wind and Sun https://www.solar-electric.com/residential/batteries-battery-storage.html The Geneverse PowerPillar is Now Available to Solar Installers and Distributors https://www.altenergymag.com/news/2023/08/22/the-geneverse-powerpillar-is-now-available-to-solar-installers-and-

https://www.cityu.edu.hk/research/stories/2021/08/26/new-photocatalyst-produces-ammonia-atmospheric-nitrogen-room-temperature-without-fossil-fuels "team developed an iron-metalated porphyrin-based metal-organic framework (MOFs) photocatalyst... This biomimetic photocatalyst, with only 15 to 25 nm in thickness, can produce ammonia after achieving artificial nitrogen fixation powered by sunlight and using water as the reducing agent, at ambient temperature and pressure... Good hydrolytic stability means the photocatalyst is to be used repeatedly... exhibits one of the highest ammonia yields" Related: Ammonia synthesis by mechanocatalysis in a ball mill https://phys.org/news/2021-10-ammonia-synthesis-mechanocatalysis-ball-mill.html Novel strategy to fabricate 3D-MXene-based electrocatalyst for nitrogen reduction to ammonia https://phys.org/news/2021-11-strategy-fabricate-3d-mxene-based-electrocatalyst-nitrogen.html FuelPositive promises green ammonia at 60% the cost of today'

https://smart.mit.edu/news-events/news/smart-researchers-discover-new-way-to-generate-light-through-use-of-pre-existing-defects-in-semiconductor-materials "could be instrumental in the future development of micro LED arrays consisting of a single material... could lead to a more rapid phasing out of non-solid-state lighting sources – such as incandescent bulbs – and even the current phosphor-coated blue InGaN LEDs with a fully solid-state color-mixing solution, in turn leading to a significant reduction in global energy consumption... can be widely adopted and implemented at scale" Related: A novel way to generate visible light https://phys.org/news/2021-10-visible.html

https://www.pnnl.gov/news-media/speedier-manufacturing-stronger-aluminum-alloys "alloy 7075... has a strength-to-weight ratio 85 percent higher than the alloys found in typical passenger vehicles... Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion, or ShAPE™, can extrude about 12 meters per minute with no tearing or cracking, whereas conventional extrusion is limited to about 1 to 2 meters per minute—and our process even enhances some material properties... can make the lightweight 7075 alloy cost-effective for the passenger vehicle market"

https://solarfoods.fi/ The production process for Solein is disconnected from agriculture, climate and weather. It does not require irrigation systems, pesticides, fertilisation or animals, and can be produced in space. A single microbe is fermented using hydrogen (electrolyzed from water), carbon dioxide and small amounts of trace elements. NASA and the Canadian Space Agency CSA have jointly recognised Solar Foods' technology as a game-changer. Related: Steaks out of thin air: start-up company makes protein from carbon dioxide, organism, and water https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/36120/20220215/steaks-out-thin-air-start-up-company-making-protein-carbon.htm “Microbial Protein” – Fungi-based meat alternatives can help save earth’s forests https://scitechdaily.com/microbial-protein-fungi-based-meat-alternatives-can-help-save-earths-forests/ Ocean organism could be key to animal-free meat https://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID=31644 Eco-friendly burgers: substituting beef

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-high-entropy-alloysbased-high-temperature-solar-absorption-coatings.html "obtained a coating with an absorption of 92.8 percent and an emissivity of less than 7 percent, which showed favorable thermal stability in a vacuum at 650 degrees Celsius for 300 hours... excellent mechanical properties, ability to withstand heat, as well as their resistance to wear, corrosion and irradiation... great potential for development in the renewable energy industry... great potential to be applied in the field of interfacial water evaporation"

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-effectiveness-antibiotics.html "more effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria—also known as superbugs... During a bacterial infection, the body uses molecules called chemoattractants to recruit neutrophils to the site of the infection. Neutrophils are immune cells with the ability to encapsulate and kill dangerous bacteria, critical to the immune response. Researchers attached a chemoattractant to an antibiotic, enabling them to enhance the recruitment of immune cells and improve their killing ability"

https://news.ncsu.edu/2021/10/holes-p-type-material/ "there was a limit on the number of holes that you can make in p-type III-nitride semiconductor materials... But that limit just went up... this means more of the energy input in LEDs is converted into light. For lasers, it means that less of the energy input will be wasted as heat... Previously, the highest hole concentration achieved... was about an order of magnitude lower... also applied these indium gallium nitride templates as substrates for LED structures to address the long-lasting problem called the green gap"

https://source.wustl.edu/2021/10/stretchy-bendy-flexible-leds/ "Sure, you could attach two screens with a hinge and call a cell phone “foldable,” but what if you could roll it up and put it in your wallet? Or stretch it around your wrist to wear it as a watch?... used a particular type of crystalline material called an organometal halide perovskite... can be printed onto a variety of unconventional substrates... such as rubber... Imagine having a device that starts out the size of a cell phone but can be stretched to the size of a tablet" Related: Observations open door to improved luminous efficiency of organic LEDs https://phys.org/news/2023-03-door-luminous-efficiency.html Focus on perovskite emitters in blue light–emitting diodes https://phys.org/news/2023-10-focus-perovskite-emitters-blue-lightemitting.html

https://news.mit.edu/2021/cause-effect-neural-networks-1014 "These neural networks know what they’re doing... can learn the cause-and-effect basis of a navigation task during training... could improve the reliability and trustworthiness of machine learning agents that are performing high-stakes tasks, like driving an autonomous vehicle on a busy highway" Earlier referenced article:  “Liquid” machine-learning system adapts to changing conditions https://news.mit.edu/2021/machine-learning-adapts-0128 "new type of neural network could aid decision making in autonomous driving and medical diagnosis"

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-58709069 "Barley in a greenhouse... it's not food for us, it's not food for animals... this grass is a host. It's been genetically modified to carry a special protein called a growth factor in its seeds... These seeds are harvested, milled, and purified, and the resulting growth factor protein can be used to help produce... meat, in a lab, without the animals... less land, less energy, and less harmful waste...although the first ever growth factors came from animals, it's hoped that this barley plant method will be cheaper and scalable" Related: 3D-printed steak, anyone? I taste test this ‘gamechanging’ meat mimic https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/nov/16/3d-printed-steak-taste-test-meat-mimic World’s largest lab-grown steak unveiled by Israeli firm https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/08/worlds-largest-lab-grown-steak-unveiled-by-israeli-firm Valio and VTT researching future food production using cellular

https://news.griffith.edu.au/2021/10/21/researchers-develop-broad-spectrum-malaria-vaccine/ "a major breakthrough towards the delivery of an efficient malaria vaccine... incorporates killed blood-stage malaria parasites... can be freeze-dried making it suitable for deployment into malaria-endemic countries... made possible by replacing the red cell membrane that normally surrounds the parasite with a synthetic lipid-based membrane... add saline and inject into a person...  human clinical trials to evaluate this vaccine in 2022" Related: Promising new antimalarial compound discovered https://phys.org/news/2021-10-antimalarial-compound.html Malarial mosquitoes suppressed in experiments that mimic natural environments https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/227193/malarial-mosquitoes-suppressed-experiments-that-mimic/ Unconventional T cells promote immunity to malaria https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-12-unconventional-cells-immunity-malaria.html New mosquito repellents that work bett

https://www.uec.ac.jp/eng/news/announcement/2021/20211018_3785.html "Porous materials are not attached on the heat transfer tube but are filled inside it... can be used in existing heat transfer tubes... sintering the heat transfer tube and the porous media can improve the contact between the fiber and the wall of the tube, reducing thermal resistance and enhancing heat exchange... Based on the temperature differences between the incoming and the outgoing air... heat transfer in the tubes sintered with porous media five times greater than the conventional heat transfer tubes" Related: From waste to resource: Turning exhaust heat into energy with unprecedented efficiency https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-resource-exhaust-energy-unprecedented-efficiency.html Atomic-scale 'lasagna' keeps heat at bay https://phys.org/news/2021-10-atomic-scale-lasagna-bay.html Mini electricity generator made from quantum dots https://phys.org/news/2022-01-mini-electricity-quantum-dots.ht

https://hypoint.com/ "next generation hydrogen fuel cell system that can deliver both high specific power > 2 000 W/kg and high energy density > 1 500 Wh/kg, exactly what aircraft designers are looking for" Main innovation: uses compressed air for both cooling and O supply. Weather: -60 to +60 C˚, Fuel: low grade H gas. White paper: https://docsend.com/view/t9aw2mk ----- HyPoint and Piasecki reach $6.5M deal to develop hydrogen fuel cells systems for eVTOLs https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/24/hypoint-and-piasecki-reach-6-5m-deal-to-develop-hydrogen-fuel-cells-systems-for-evtols/ "air-cooled hydrogen fuel cell systems that it says have triple the power-to-weight ratio of traditional liquid-cooled hydrogen fuel cells. Now, the fuel cell developer is adding Piasecki Aircraft Corporation to its list of partners... goal is to create a system that has four times the energy density of existing lithium-ion batteries, double the specific power of existing hydrogen fuel cell s

https://www.titech.ac.jp/english/news/2021/062112 "electric power is evaluated by power factor (PF), which is the product of thermopower S squared and electronic conductivity (s)... the s increases with increasing impurity concentration but the S decreases. This trade-off limits the PF... a way to break this trade-off... increase in both S and s resulted in a hundred-fold increase in PF... by greatly improving the thermoelectric performance of oxides beyond the trade-off relationship, thermoelectric conversion is expected to become widespread as a general energy source"

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-10-scientists-quick-marijuana.html "rapid test was able to reliably detect THC in people's saliva in under 5 minutes... not only quickly detects THC in saliva, but quantifies the amount... It took about 3 minutes... unlike the case with alcohol, there is no one THC level that defines intoxication... Still, with further refinement, Lee said his team's rapid test could prove useful for roadside testing of drivers suspected of being impaired... potential applications... is to check breast milk, so that babies are not inadvertently exposed to THC"

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2021/october/moldable-wood.html "After extracting the lignin... and then closing the fibres via evaporation, the research team... re-swelled the wood by "shocking" it with water... forms a distinct partially open, wrinkled cell wall structure that provides space for compression as well as the ability to support high strain, allowing the material to be easily folded and molded... resulting 3D-Molded Wood is six-times stronger than the starting wood and comparable to widely used lightweight materials like aluminium alloys" Related: Scientists have found a way to harden wood to make a knife that rivals steel https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/oct-23-vikings-in-newfoundland-new-rocks-from-the-moon-making-wood-better-and-more-1.6219865/scientists-have-found-a-way-to-harden-wood-to-make-a-knife-that-rivals-steel-1.6219874 Rethinking a waste product of the timber processing industry https://techxplore.com/news/2023-01-rethinking-product-timber-i

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-10-nontoxic-drug-delivery-effective-therapies.html "bacteria-based system... a highly modified type of salmonella that is injected into the bloodstream. Salmonella are known to accumulate in tumors... not only can it easily enter cells, but it can specifically target cancer cells to deliver proteins (drugs) directly while leaving healthy cells alone. And once its protein payload is delivered, the bacteria dissipate and clear... With liver cancer, we're seeing pre-clinical evidence that it has an anti-tumor effect"

https://www.brown.edu/news/2021-10-21/ionconductor "could be used as either a solid electrolyte or as an ion-conducting binder for the cathode... The paper-thin material has an ion conductivity that is 10 to 100 times better than other polymer ion conductors [such as those made of] ceramic materials, which are great at conducting ions but they're also thick, rigid and brittle [allowing] Stresses during manufacturing as well as [during] charging and discharging [which] can lead to cracks and breaks"

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-chemists-fundamentally-mode-adsorption.html "a breakthrough in surface science... The new adsorption mechanism, called mechanisorption, results from non-equilibrium pumping to form mechanical bonds between the adsorbent (the surface) and the adsorbate (the molecules)... If chemists can work out how mechanisorption can be incorporated in active structures, the storage of gases like hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane will enter a whole new world and become a different ball game altogether"

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/10/harvard-researchers-use-dyes-to-store-data/ "mixtures of seven commercially available fluorescent dyes... are dropped by an inkjet printer and read with a microscope that can detect the different wavelengths of light each dye emits... then decode the binary message in the molecules back to documents, books, photos, videos, or anything else that can be digitally stored. Theoretically, the data can be saved for a very long time — thousands of years or more... can be read with 99.6 percent accuracy... relatively cheap" Related: Storing data for thousands of years | Microsoft Project Silica https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rfEYd4NGQg

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-wireless-based-large-area-electronics-gigahertz.html "existing LAE-based devices is that they typically achieve far lower speeds than electronics based on conventional chips... To enhance its speed, they enhanced a metric of basic transistors by over one order of magnitude and then designed circuits that exploited this metric. Finally, they employed architecture-level phase synchronization techniques that did not require components that would reduce the system's speed"

https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/news/actualitat/2021/279-antibody-aging-cancer.html "acts as a smart bomb able to recognize specific proteins on the surface of these aged or senescent cells. It then attaches itself to them and releases a drug that removes them without affecting the rest, thus minimizing any potential side effects... Treatment could start to be given as soon as the first symptoms... such as Alzheimer's, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's, arthritis, cataracts or some tumours, appear... researchers believe that it could even be used to achieve healthier ageing in some circumstances" Related: Grape seed chemical allows mice to live longer by killing aged cells https://www.newscientist.com/article/2300346-grape-seed-chemical-allows-mice-to-live-longer-by-killing-aged-cells/ Japanese scientists develop vaccine to eliminate cells behind aging https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/12/12/national/science-health/aging-vaccine/  See also: A new vaccine that alters sen

https://medium.com/kitekraft/kitekraft-succeeds-with-autonomous-all-phase-flight-of-new-kite-demonstrator-f13b12690d55 "major milestone in our development towards our first 100kW product with a successful flight in all phases... getting the software for autonomous flight control in place... we [achieved] this in just two years of Kitekraft’s existence" Company website:   https://www.kitekraft.de/airborne-wind-energy "harvest up to 3 times more energy per area in wind park arrangements than conventional turbines... need 10x less building materials compared to conventional wind turbines of the same power rating... provide utility-level low-cost wind power already at small-scale and even lower cost at megawatt-scale... our flying kites are barely visible. This reduces visual obstructions and public opposition...  has the same life span [as] conventional wind turbines... mostly made of aluminum which can easily be recycled... very compact and can be packed in standard shippi

https://www.pppl.gov/news/2021/plasma-rescue-scientists-develop-path-setting-method-enable-vast-applications-promising-0 "while graphene is an excellent conductor it cannot serve as an insulator without a band gap... The technique has hydrogenated graphene for up to 30 minutes in PPPL experiments, greatly increasing the hydrogen coverage and opening a band gap that turns graphene into semiconductor material... can now be used for microelectronics, QIS [quantum information science] and other applications... can also be applied to other 2D materials"

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-solution-light-weight-compact-wireless-devices.html "highly precise and efficient... will effectively reduce the amount of circuit components in wireless power transfer devices, as well as their cost and weight... especially beneficial for electric cars, drones and other such vehicles for which a light weight and compact size are important. Furthermore, the research results could also be applied to biomedical wireless power transfers for implantable medical devices such as pacemakers"

https://www.ntu.edu.sg/docs/default-source/academic-services/ntu-singapore-scientists-discover-method-to-boost-energy-generation-from-microalgae59f4b183-07ca-4a8a-8a18-f70fe9fd704d.pdf "encasing algae protein in liquid droplets can dramatically enhance the algae's light-harvesting and energy-conversion properties, making it up to three times more efficient... droplet behaves like a resonator that confines a lot of light... not as efficient as solar cells in generating electricity [4.5% vs. 20%]. However, it is more renewable and sustainable" Related: New species of ultrasmall microalgae found in home aquarium could have multiple useful applications https://phys.org/news/2023-01-species-ultrasmall-microalgae-home-aquarium.html Glass-like shells of diatoms help turn light into energy in dim conditions https://www.optica.org/en-us/about/newsroom/news_releases/2022/november/glass-like_shells_of_diatoms_help_turn_light_into/ Green dreams: Algae biorefineries could help in the

https://discover.lanl.gov/news/releases/1015-quantum-ai "a fundamental solvability problem known as barren plateaus has limited the application of these neural networks for large data sets... some quantum neural networks are, in fact, immune to barren plateaus... Overcoming barren plateaus is key to extracting the full potential of quantum computers in AI applications and demonstrating their superiority over classical computers... clears the way for quantum artificial intelligence to aid in materials discovery and many other applications" Related: Discovery may enable network interface for quantum computers https://phys.org/news/2023-10-discovery-enable-network-interface-quantum.html

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/battery-startup-our-next-energy-one-closes-series-a-led-by-breakthrough-energy-ventures-301400984.html "Our Next Energy Inc. (ONE)...$25 million Series A capital raise led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures... Aries™, will go into production at the end of 2022 with an energy density of 287 Wh/L... highest known cell to pack ratio of 76%... first production customer to increase range and reduce cost while eliminating nickel- and-cobalt supply chain and safety concerns. The second of these technologies, called Gemini™... 450 Wh/L at a system level" Related: US EV battery manufacturer demonstrates 750+ mile range, raises $65 million https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/02/us-ev-battery-manufacturer-demonstrates-750-mile-range-raises-65-million/ Lithium iron phosphate comes to America https://cen.acs.org/energy/energy-storage-/Lithium-iron-phosphate-comes-to-America/101/i4 Gotion Introduces LMFP Battery With Energy Density Of 240 Wh/Kg https:/

https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/perfect-lizard-tail "used gene-editing tools to make embryonic NSCs [neural stem cells] unresponsive to the ventralizing signal, and surgically implanted these cells into adult tail stumps—leading to the regeneration of perfect tails... Perfecting the imperfect regenerated lizard tail provides us with a blueprint for improving healing in wounds that don’t naturally regenerate, such as severed human limbs and spinal cords" Related: MDI Biological Laboratory scientist advances prospect of regeneration in humans https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/935326 Coaxing jellyfish, flies and mice to regenerate body parts https://phys.org/news/2021-12-coaxing-jellyfish-flies-mice-regenerate.html Researchers regrow frog's lost leg https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-01-regrow-frog-lost-leg.html

https://www.uva.nl/en/content/news/press-releases/2021/10/uva-scientists-develop-fully-solar-driven-autonomous-chemical-mini-plant.html "fully off-grid... solar-powered mini-reactor which offers the potential for the production of fine chemicals in remote locations... photocatalyst... capable of synthesising drugs and other chemicals in economically relevant volumes... sheet of transparent plastic with micrometre-sized channels... By adding dedicated dyes... converting a substantial part of the light into red photons that drive the chemical conversion"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/16/lab-grown-coffee-eco-friendly "made without coffee beans... VTT’s coffee is grown by floating cell cultures in bioreactors filled with a nutrient... requires no pesticides and has a much lower water footprint... Rising demand for coffee has been linked to deforestation in developing nations, damaging biodiversity... coffee producers are struggling with the impacts of more extreme weather, from frosts to droughts... VTT’s lab-grown coffee could get regulatory approval in Europe and the US in about four years’ time" See also: Sustainable coffee production in Finland: Coffee grown from plant cells in VTT's bioreactor smells and tastes good https://www.vttresearch.com/fi/uutiset-ja-tarinat/kahvintuotantoa-kestavasti-suomessa-vttn-bioreaktorissa-kasvisoluista-kasvatettu Finnish scientists create 'sustainable' lab-grown coffee https://phys.org/news/2021-10-finnish-scientists-sustainable-lab-grown-coffee.html

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-quantum-technologies-based-magnetic-molecules.html "researchers show coherent electrical control of the quantum spin state and exploit it to independently manipulate the two magnetically identical but opposite-oriented molecules... contrary to what happens with magnetic fields, an electric field can control quickly and on a nanoscale the quantum state of spin qubits"

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-ultrafast-optical-overwhelmed-datacenters.html "A particularly promising OCS [optical circuit switches] architecture is wavelength switching where different servers are connected using different colors (wavelengths) of light leading to flatter network architecture and limiting the need for electrical switches and optical transceivers... using a chip-based soliton comb laser and a completely passive diffraction grating device" Related: A traffic light for light-on-a-chip https://phys.org/news/2021-10-traffic-light-on-a-chip.html

https://actu.epfl.ch/news/new-nanowire-architectures-boost-computers-process/ "The main challenges we now face in processing power relate to overcoming the transistor saturation point, which we can do with nanowires and other kinds of nanostructures...Valerio Piazza is creating new 3D architectures built from an inventive form of nanowire... Piazza’s horizontal nanowires – they can be vertical, too – are made up of atoms from groups III and V of the periodic table: gallium, aluminum, indium, nitrogen, phosphorus and arsenic"

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2021/10/016.html "compressive buckling method can be used to rapidly transform a two-dimensional tissue to a three-dimensional tissue with substantial thickness, thus allowing researchers to create more realistic tissue and opening new possibilities in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine"

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/10/intracellular-recording-data-to-dna/ "new method for recording information to DNA that takes minutes, rather than hours or days, to complete... novel enzymatic system to synthesize DNA that records rapidly changing environmental signals directly into DNA sequences... could change the way scientists study and record neurons inside the brain... Outside the body... hard drives and disk drives that hold years of beloved camera memories also could be replaced by bits of DNA" Related: Scientists claim big advance in using DNA to store data https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59489560  See also: Microsoft's New Molecular Controller Makes DNA Writing 1,000 Times Faster https://interestingengineering.com/microsofts-new-molecular-controller-makes-dna-writing-1000-times-faster Storing information in DNA: Improving DNA storage with nanoscale electrode wells https://phys.org/news/2021-12-dna-storage-nanoscale-electrode-wells.html

https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/12/greenforges-digs-deep-to-farm-underground "anywhere in the world, no matter the time of year or environment, temperatures stabilize underground... underground system will increase energy efficiency by 30-40% compared to traditional vertical farms... startup GreenForges... will drill 40-inch-diameter holes into the ground underneath new buildings and lower the equipment into the hole... up to 30 meters deep... Maintenance and harvesting will be done by mechanically pulling the crops up to the surface where a human can fix or pick" Related: A Dutch vertical farming company has just been valued at over $1 billion https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/16/infarm-vertical-farming-firm-valued-at-over-1-billion-by-investors.html Spray-on polymer could cut food waste and increase incomes for Kenyan smallholders https://phys.org/news/2023-03-spray-on-polymer-food-incomes-kenyan.html Floating sea farms: a solution to feed the world and ensure freshwater by 2050

https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2021/10/bridging-optics-and-electronics "simple spatial light modulator made from gold electrodes covered by a thin film of electro-optical material that changes its optical properties in response to electric signals... a first step towards more compact, high-speed and precise spatial light modulators that could one day be used in everything from imaging to virtual reality, quantum communications and sensing"

https://discovery.kaust.edu.sa/en/article/1164/welcoming-composite-inks-into-the-fold "researchers screen-printed a flexible quasi-Yagi antenna on a dielectric substrate to show that the device performed well in the millimeter-wave band when bent or folded... will be beneficial for novel 5G antennas and accelerate the implementation of 5G... inks are compatible with roll-to-roll processing, which can help meet the high demand for wearable sensors at low costs... expect fabrication costs to be extremely low, to the extent that the devices will become disposable" Related: Under pressure: Breakthrough new material solves problem of wearable sensors https://techxplore.com/news/2023-01-pressure-breakthrough-material-problem-wearable.html

https://pharmacy.ucsf.edu/news/2021/09/kidney-project-successfully-tests-prototype-bioartificial-kidney "combined the two essential parts of its artificial kidney, the hemofilter and the bioreactor, and successfully implanted the smartphone-sized device for preclinical evaluation... The units worked in tandem, powered by blood pressure alone, and without the need for blood thinning or immunosuppressant drugs... sustainably support a culture of human kidney cells without provoking an immune response" See also: The World's First Artificial Kidney Could Finally Free People From Dialysis https://interestingengineering.com/the-worlds-first-artificial-kidney-could-finally-free-people-from-dialysis Related: UAB announces first clinical-grade transplant of gene-edited pig kidneys into brain-dead human https://plasmakinetics.com/ Researchers may have found a way to repair damaged kidneys, giving hope to millions of people on dialysis https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/research

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2021/acs-presspac-october-13-2021/storing-data-as-mixtures-of-fluorescent-dyes-video.html "The fluorescent data could be read 1,000 times without a significant loss in intensity. The researchers also demonstrated the technique’s ability to write and read an image of Faraday. The strategy has a read rate of 469 bits/s, which is the fastest reported for any molecular information storage method, the researchers say" Unfortunately each colored bit is only binary. Should instead be octal or hex or more!

https://actu.epfl.ch/news/how-to-force-photons-to-never-bounce-back/ "topology-based method that forces microwave photons to travel along a one way path, despite unprecedented levels of disorder and obstacles on their way. This discovery paves the way to a new generation of high-frequency circuits and extremely robust, compact communication devices"

https://news.iu.edu/stories/2021/10/iub/13-physics-neutron-lifetime-measurement-study.html The process by which a neutron ‘decays’ into a proton — with an emission of a light electron and an almost massless neutrino — is of great interest to physicists.  “...understanding the precise lifetime of the neutron can shed light on how the universe developed ... and show flaws in our model of the subatomic universe that we know exist but nobody has yet been able to find.”  The neutron source was the Ultracold Neutron source at Los Alamos.  The experiment captures these neutrons, whose temperatures are lowered to nearly absolute zero, inside a “bathtub” lined with about 4,000 magnets.  After waiting 30 to 90 minutes, researchers count the surviving neutrons in the tub as they’re levitated against gravity by the force of the magnets.  The trap allows neutrons to remain stored for more than 11 days.  This is significantly longer than earlier designs, minimizing the need for systematic correction