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Michigan university scientists’ new solar panels could eventually lead to self-powering skyscrapers

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Imagine if all the glass we see on the sides of skyscrapers and other buildings were actually solar cells in disguise, collecting energy from the sun and helping to power the building and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. 

That is the dream of many scientists who are working on the technology. Essentially, they want to replace the silicon material that glass is made out of with material that is more suitable for capturing solar energy.

While green energy has made great strides in recent years – with Germans as a nation recently using more electricity from alternative sources than traditional gas- and oil-based power – there’s still a long way to go. [Read more…] about Michigan university scientists’ new solar panels could eventually lead to self-powering skyscrapers

Scientists will use newly discovered ‘cyborg material’ to invade our brains, merge with our thoughts and turn us all into mindless zombie robots, says report

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Scientists will use newly discovered “cyborg material” to invade our brains, merge with our thoughts and turn us all into mindless zombie robots, according to a report on The Daily Star website.

The sinister “bio-synthetic material” that could end humanity as we know it was presented recently at the American Chemical Society Fall 2020 virtual expo.

Experts claim it will pave the way to integrating electronics with the body to create “cyborg” beings, reports The Star, which adds that the new breakthrough material will enable human brains to merge with artificial intelligence. [Read more…] about Scientists will use newly discovered ‘cyborg material’ to invade our brains, merge with our thoughts and turn us all into mindless zombie robots, says report

Pittsburgh looks to ‘infinity and beyond’ with $200 million NASA contract win

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Pittsburgh local authorities say they are looking to “infinity and beyond” after NASA awarded a local company, Astrobotic Technology, a $200 million contract to build and send the first-ever US rover to the Moon by 2023.

Specialising in the development of space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions, Astrobotic was founded in 2007 by Carnegie Mellon University professor Red Whittaker and his associates.

Whittaker is considered the “father of field robotics” for his pioneering work and the company was designed with the specific goal of putting a rover on the Moon. [Read more…] about Pittsburgh looks to ‘infinity and beyond’ with $200 million NASA contract win

Robots could help Mauritius clean up devastating oil spill

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Robots could be helpful in cleaning up the oil spill that has devastated the coastline of the tiny Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. (See video below.) 

Popular with tourists from around the world, the paradise island has been overwhelmed by the oil spill from the merchant vessel Wakashio, operated by Japanese company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), and owned by the Nagashiki Shipping Company.

Akihiko Ono, vice president of MOL, has issued an apology for the disaster and says the company is taking the accident “very seriously”, according to The Asahi Shimbun. [Read more…] about Robots could help Mauritius clean up devastating oil spill

Recent Breakthrough May Enable the Automated Laboratory of the Future

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Over the past several months, the world has been dealing with the first major global pandemic in more than a generation.

It has disrupted economies far and wide, cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and laid bare many of the weaknesses of the global medical industry.

One of those weaknesses has been the difficulty that multiple countries have faced in scaling up laboratory capacity to meet the demand for PCR testing created by the crisis. [Read more…] about Recent Breakthrough May Enable the Automated Laboratory of the Future

NASA about to launch Mars Rover robot

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NASA is today launching the latest version of its mobile robot for Mars.

ATI Industrial Automation worked with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) to develop a custom force/torque sensor for Perseverance, the latest Mars 2020 Rover project.

JPL is the leading US research entity for robotic exploration of our solar system and manages NASA’s Deep Space Network, the hardest-working telecommunications system on the planet. [Read more…] about NASA about to launch Mars Rover robot

Brainy alien hunter obsessed with finding life on Mars

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A brainy alien-hunter is apparently obsessed with finding life on Mars. The Purdue scientist is playing a critical role in the 2020 NASA Mars rover mission.

Briony Horgan (main picture), associate professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, is working to determine whether we are alone in the universe or if life once existed on other planets such as Mars.

When the NASA Mars rover Perseverance launches in the next few weeks, it will travel to Jezero Crater, which preserves evidence of a time when rivers flowed on Mars. [Read more…] about Brainy alien hunter obsessed with finding life on Mars

Scientists create ‘first’ map of agroforestry and ecosystem services in Asia-Pacific

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A team of scientists have mapped for the first time the research trends in agroforestry and the current state of knowledge in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the research gaps about the ecosystem services provided by agroforestry, in a new study.

The team, Seongmin Shin, Khaing Thandar Soe, Haeun Lee, Tae Hoon Kim, Seongeun Lee and Mi Sun Park from Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea, found that the number of agroforestry-related articles in the region has been growing fast but is still small compared to all the literature globally on the subject.

India and China were noted as hotspots of research, which is not surprising given the two nations’ supportive policies and institutes of agroforestry. [Read more…] about Scientists create ‘first’ map of agroforestry and ecosystem services in Asia-Pacific

Scientists develop new method of teaching surgery to a robot

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A team of scientists has developed a new way of teaching surgery to a robot that they say is far more efficient than other methods.

In a paper entitled Semi-Supervised Representation Learning from Surgical Videos, the team at Cornell University calls its algorithm Motion2Vec.

The team – which is backed by Intel’s AI Labs, Google Brain, and UC Berkeley – says Motion2Vec learns from video observations “by minimizing a metric learning loss”. [Read more…] about Scientists develop new method of teaching surgery to a robot

Arctic pollution: Air quality monitoring at 40°C below zero

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Most people think of the Arctic as a highly pristine clean environment, but this is not always the case. During the long dark Arctic winter, the urban atmosphere can become extremely polluted.

Indeed, at some point during the year, the remote Alaskan city of Fairbanks turns into the most polluted city in the whole of the US.

This is due to the very cold Arctic winter when emissions of gases and particles (such as from wood-burning stoves, traffic, power stations) can become trapped locally at ground level due to the very stable meteorological conditions, with poor vertical mixing. [Read more…] about Arctic pollution: Air quality monitoring at 40°C below zero