General science advances thread

[longknife]

Genes Influence Academic Success Across All Subject Areas, Latest Study Shows
From the Guardian, an astounding admission:

Genes influence academic ability across all subjects, latest study shows | Science | The Guardian

Sixty percent of all academic ability is inherited and genetic, rather than environmental.

How racist! The left should be up in arms over this. Really? A Super Race whose genes make it more suited for academics.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Genes Influence Academic Success Across All Subject Areas, Latest Study Shows
From the Guardian, an astounding admission:

Genes influence academic ability across all subjects, latest study shows | Science | The Guardian

Sixty percent of all academic ability is inherited and genetic, rather than environmental.

How racist! The left should be up in arms over this. Really? A Super Race whose genes make it more suited for academics.

We should be looking at what genes do this and working on ways to gene splice. The entire species would be better off having this.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Material with new record melting point predicted
By Eric Mack - July 27, 2015 2 Pictures

New research predicts it is possible to create a material with a new record-setting melting point that would have a good chance of staying intact, even at the insane temperatures in places like the outer edges of Earth's core. Computer simulations run by a team from Brown University find that a precise combination of hafnium, nitrogen and carbon would have a melting point of 4,400 kelvins (7,460 degrees Fahrenheit).

 

[ScienceRocks]

US Navy will field 100 kilowatt or stronger lasers and ten shot per minute railguns by 2020

The US Navy is pursuing a multi-pronged approach to fielding energy weapons by the end of the decade, with the hopes of upgrading its 30 kilowatt laser gun to 100 kw or more, and giving its electromagnetic railgun a higher repetition rate. Rear Adm. Bryant Fuller, chief engineer at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), said in a panel presentation...
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[ScienceRocks]

"Death Star" laser sets new world record in Japan
By Eric Mack - July 30, 2015 2 Pictures

Laser engineers in Japan claim to have set a new record for firing the world's most powerful laser, with a peak power equal to a thousand times total world energy consumption. It conjures images of a real-life "Death Star" laser, but could actually help unlock the mysteries of the universe.

 

[ScienceRocks]

World's first white lasers demonstrated
More luminous, energy efficient than LEDs, white lasers look to be the future in lighting and Li-Fi, or light-based wireless communication

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150729101932.htm
Date:
July 29, 2015
Source:
Arizona State University
Summary:
Semiconductor lasers are capable of emitting over the full visible color spectrum, which is necessary to produce a white laser, researchers have demonstrated. The technological advance puts lasers one step closer to being a mainstream light source and potential replacement or alternative to light emitting diodes (LEDs). Lasers are brighter, more energy efficient, and can potentially provide more accurate and vivid colors for displays like computer screens and televisions.

 

[ScienceRocks]

 

[ScienceRocks]

China plans to build a hybrid fusion fission reactor by 2030 but no real technical details

The South China Morning Post and Chinese media are reporting that China will build a new hybrid reactor that can burn nuclear waste via a combined fusion-fission method by 2030. The proposed hybrid reactor will use nuclear fusion to burn u-238 and could in theory recycle the waste from traditional reactors into new fuel. The project is...

 

[ScienceRocks]

France funding combat laser for wing mounted pod for French Dassault Rafale fighter

Quantel Laser (Paris, France) has been awarded a $7-million, multi-year contract by a Tier 1 defense contractor to supply lasers to be built into a wing-mounted fighter aircraft pod, such as on the French Dassault Rafale fighter. The military aircraft lasers will provide critical telemetry as well as target designation functions. Quantel...
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[ScienceRocks]

Ancient Long-Necked Marine Reptile Discovered in Alaska
Researchers working along the side of a vertical cliff in Alaska’s Talkeetna Mountains have uncovered the 70-million-year-old fossils of a type of plesiosaur...
iflscience.com

 

[ScienceRocks]

Navy targets FY2019 for field testing ten shot per minute railgun and FY2018 for 100-150 kw laser tests

The Navy will shortly ward a development contract for the larger follow-on to USS Ponce laser system. The new laser gun will be 100 to 150 kw instead of 30 kw. That weapon will go out to sea for a demonstration by FY 2018, keeping in line with the goal of transitioning technology from the lab to the warfighter as quickly as possible for operational...
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[ScienceRocks]

 

[ScienceRocks]

 

[ScienceRocks]

An international team of physicists has used carbon nanotubes to enhance the efficiency of laser-driven particle acceleration. This significant advance brings compact sources of ionizing radiation for medical purposes closer to reality

An international team of physicists has used carbon nanotubes to enhance the efficiency of laser-driven particle acceleration ("Ion Acceleration Using Relativistic Pulse Shaping in Near-Critical-Density Plasmas"). This significant advance brings compact sources of ionizing radiation for medical purposes closer to reality.

The interaction of high-intensity laser light with solid targets could someday serve as the basis of table-top sources of high-energy ions for medical applications. An international team led by physicists of the LMU affiliated with the Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP), a Cluster of Excellence based in Munich, and in cooperation with scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, has taken another step towards this goal. They have done so by boosting the efficiency of a technique that uses extremely intense pulses of laser light to eject packets of high-energy ions from diamond-like carbon foils.

tion, the layer acts like a lens to focus and concentrate the light energy on the foil, which results in the production of much more energetic ion beams. This makes experiments with high-energy carbon ions on cells feasible for the first time, and brings light-driven generation of ionizing radiation closer to practical application.

 

[ScienceRocks]

A new look at superfluidity

MIT physicists have created a superfluid gas, the so-called Bose-Einstein condensate, for the first time in an extremely high magnetic field. The magnetic field is a synthetic magnetic field, generated using laser beams, and is 100 times stronger than that of the world’s strongest magnets. Within this magnetic field, the researchers could keep a gas superfluid for a tenth of a second — just long enough for the team to observe it. The researchers report their results this week in the journal Nature Physics ("Observation of Bose–Einstein condensation in a strong synthetic magnetic field").
A superfluid is a phase of matter that only certain liquids or gases can assume, if they are cooled to extremely low temperatures. At temperatures approaching absolute zero, atoms cease their individual, energetic trajectories, and start to move collectively as one wave.
Superfluids are thought to flow endlessly, without losing energy, similar to electrons in a superconductor. Observing the behavior of superfluids therefore may help scientists improve the quality of superconducting magnets and sensors, and develop energy-efficient methods for transporting electricity.
But superfluids are temperamental, and can disappear in a flash if atoms cannot be kept cold or confined. The MIT team combined several techniques in generating ultracold temperatures, to create and maintain a superfluid gas long enough to observe it at ultrahigh synthetic magnetic fields.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Researchers generate magnetism in non-magnetic metals - http://gizm.ag/1IxAYOE

 

[ScienceRocks]

Magnetic field 100 times strongest magnets made with lasers and Superfluid gas

MIT physicists have created a superfluid gas, the so-called Bose-Einstein condensate, for the first time in an extremely high magnetic field. The magnetic field is a synthetic magnetic field, generated using laser beams, and is 100 times stronger than that of the world’s strongest magnets. Within this magnetic field, the researchers could...

 

[sealybobo]

I just heard a scientist is turning yeast into oxy, pain killers, morphine. Only small doses but years ago older more conservative scientists said it could never be done and now it is.

Speeding Up Yeast s Evolution And What It Says About Cancer NPR

Home-Brewed Morphine Is Around The Corner Goats and Soda NPR

 

[ScienceRocks]

 

[ScienceRocks]

England is set to begin testing an electric highway. http://bit.ly/1Et6slc

Global extinction rates could be way higher than previously thought. http://bit.ly/1DOqSu7