Cool Science Story Of The Day [Continuing Thread]

[john70t]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Posted by Tim De Chant on Fri, 17 Mar 2017
Super-Safe Glass Battery Charges in Minutes, Not Hours
Super-Safe Glass Battery Charges in Minutes, Not Hours — NOVA Next | PBS

So why isn't this guy on the front page of media instead of Section8 Musk?


China's seven warring states united by the first emperor.
Monetary trade units, weights and bounds and measures, weapons and interchangeable parts, language and printed news, all standardized.
The unknown pyramid of Qin Shi Huang.
Terracotta army. Active rivers of mercury. Golden heavens of the planetary systems on the ceiling.

[kach22i]

February 9, 2017
The Lavish Qin Shi Huang Tomb – Built for Immortality
https://www.historicmysteries.com/qin-shi-huang-tomb-first-emperor-china/

The Qin Shi Huang tomb lies deep within this mound. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Sylvannus.

Imaging of Qin Shi Huang tomb hidden within burial mound. Source: Youtube, China’s Megatomb Revealed, Dewei Ku.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_the_First_Qin_Emperor

Comparison of approximate profiles of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor with some notable pyramidal or near-pyramidal buildings. Dotted lines indicate original heights, where data are available. In its SVG file, hover over a pyramid to highlight and click for its article.

[jyl]

Far UV light shown to kill viruses (e.g. flu) without harming humans.

A Special UV Light Could Kill Airborne Flu Virus | Time

[IROC]

We installed a 70,000 lbs super-critical hydrogen moderator/beryllium reflector on Saturday. No more than .5" of clearance around it all the way down. Dose rates at the plane of the opening of the hole it went into were ~50 R/hr. This was the first time this has ever been done. I am the lead engineer on this installation and will get some mileage out of this...

[NY65912]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stronger-than-steel-able-to-stop-a-speeding-bullet-mdash-it-rsquo-s-super-wood/

[RSBob]

Just heard on the national news that next year a new pill maybe released that can reduce the symptoms of the flu to 1 day. Amazing stuff.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by NY65912

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stronger-than-steel-able-to-stop-a-speeding-bullet-mdash-it-rsquo-s-super-wood/

I was just going to post that article, someone in another car forum recently posted it.

Stronger Than Steel, Able to Stop a Speeding Bullet—It’s Super Wood!
By Sid Perkins on February 7, 2018
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stronger-than-steel-able-to-stop-a-speeding-bullet-mdash-it-rsquo-s-super-wood/

Simple processes can make wood tough, impact-resistant—or even transparent

[GH85Carrera]

This is just cool!

[kach22i]

Researchers create a real cloaking device
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/researchers-create-real-cloaking-device-130850890.html

Hanford created an acoustic metamaterial that deflected sound waves under water, a difficult feat. In testing she and the team were able to place the material in water and measure sound waves pointed at it. The resulting echoes in the water suggested that the sound waves did not bounce off or around the material. This means the new material would be invisible to sonar.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by IROC

We installed a 70,000 lbs super-critical hydrogen moderator/beryllium reflector on Saturday. No more than .5" of clearance around it all the way down. Dose rates at the plane of the opening of the hole it went into were ~50 R/hr. This was the first time this has ever been done. I am the lead engineer on this installation and will get some mileage out of this...

That's really freakin' cool. I'd like to buy you a beer and talk, but probably from the other end of the bar, far away from all of those rampant neutrons.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by masraum

That's really freakin' cool. I'd like to buy you a beer and talk, but probably from the other end of the bar, far away from all of those rampant neutrons.

Yeah, we started this job a couple of days after Christmas and just finished it up yesterday. Most of time was spent connecting the new piping for the super-critical hydrogen moderators (multi-layer, vacuum-jacketed piping that has to be cold-shocked with liquid nitrogen and leak tested after every weld). The neutrons are traveling at about 90% of the speed of light when they are produced, so we pass them thru liquid hydrogen to slow them down.

Here we are installing the some of the final shield blocks yesterday:

[masraum]

Originally Posted by IROC

Yeah, we started this job a couple of days after Christmas and just finished it up yesterday. Most of time was spent connecting the new piping for the super-critical hydrogen moderators (multi-layer, vacuum-jacketed piping that has to be cold-shocked with liquid nitrogen and leak tested after every weld). The neutrons are traveling at about 90% of the speed of light when they are produced, so we pass them thru liquid hydrogen to slow them down.

Here we are installing the some of the final shield blocks yesterday:

Very cool!

[kach22i]

Asteroid the size of a city block just gave Earth a close shave
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/asteroid-size-city-block-give-earth-close-shave-ncna873906

A fast-moving asteroid the size of a city block gave Earth a close shave today, zooming safely past at 6:05 p.m. EDT at a distance of about 126,000 miles. That's about half the distance from the Earth to the moon and the closest approach the asteroid has made in nearly 300 years, EarthSky.org reported.

The space rock, known as 2010 WC9, was moving at almost 29,000 miles per hour as it passed. It has a diameter of 60 to 134 meters, or roughly 200 to 400 feet — "as big across as a city block," Dr. Erin Ryan, an asteroid expert at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, told NBC News MACH in an email.......................

Good to know.

An asteroid roughly the size of 2010 WC9 collides with Earth only about once every 6,000 years, Chodas said. And as Dr. Amy Mainzer, another asteroid expert at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told MACH in December, “There are no objects that have been identified that are known to be on a collision course with Earth.”

[Porchdog]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0tnqPmwWvk

A relatively short, not to scientific description of the Hawaii volcano, it's history and how they know.

I thought this was just fascinating.

[kach22i]

Evidence detected of lake beneath the surface of Mars
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/25/world/mars-subsurface-water-lake-evidence/index.html

(CNN) A lake of liquid water has been detected by radar beneath the southern polar ice cap of Mars, according to a new study by Italian researchers from the Italian Space Agency, published Wednesday in the journal Science.

Evidence was gathered by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument, also known as MARSIS, on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft.

Between May 2012 and December 2015, MARSIS was used to survey the Planum Australe region, which is in the southern ice cap of Mars. It sent radar pulses through the surface and polar ice caps and measured how the radio waves reflected back to Mars Express..................

But how reliable are these detections?

Outside experts have not been able to confirm these findings with other radar detections, like SHARAD, the Shallow Radar sounder onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

[kach22i]

SIGNS IN THE SKIES Blood moon will appear above Mars during longest lunar eclipse this century on Friday in extremely rare cosmic alignment
This week will see the moon's creamy sheen change to a menacing red - while Mars will shine brighter than it has for 15 years

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/6857098/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-friday-mars-when-what-time/

Its colour will change and darken from the normal creamy silver sheen to a menacing blood red.

The phenomenon struck terror into our ancestors and is still seen as a sign of doom in some parts of the world today.

In fact it is caused by sunlight being filtered through the Earth's atmosphere so that red colours predominate when it reaches the lunar surface.

Meanwhile, in a rare cosmic alignment, Mars will add to the spectacle by appearing directly below the blood moon at close to its maximum brightness.

A glorious view of Jupiter in the south-west will also be visible on Friday and amateur astrologers will have a chance of catching the International Space Station sailing overhead.

Blood moon 2018 will be longest lunar eclipse of the century. Will eclipse be visible in U.S.?
https://www.nj.com/weather/index.ssf/2018/07/blood_moon_2018_lunar_eclipse_july_in_us.html

When will the July lunar eclipse be visible?

Here's the bad news for people living in the United States. The longest lunar eclipse of the century will NOT be visible anywhere in North America.

That's because the eclipse will happen during daylight hours on our continent. Other places around the world, where the sky will be dark, will get to see this awesome sky show.

Those places are Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America, according to experts from NASA. So, if you happen to be visiting one of those places this weekend, you’re in luck!

Blood Moon 2018: Longest Total Lunar Eclipse of Century Occurs July 27
https://www.space.com/41007-blood-moon-2018-longest-lunar-eclipse-guide.html

The longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century takes place this Friday, July 27.

The total phase of the "blood moon" eclipse of July 27 will last 1 hour and 43 minutes, during which Earth's natural satellite will turn a spectacular red or ruddy-brown color. From start to finish, the entire celestial event will last nearly 4 hours.

The eclipse won't be visible to viewers in North America, except via webcasts. But observers in much of Africa, the Middle East, southern Asia and the Indian Ocean region will get an eyeful, given cooperative weather, according to lunar scientist Noah Petro, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. [In Photos: The Rare Super Blue Blood Moon Eclipse of 2018]

Why you won't be able to see the blood moon eclipse in Michigan
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/07/18/july-lunar-eclipse-blood-moon/795761002/

While NASA has provided live streams of eclipses in the past, an agency spokeswoman told the Free Press it did not yet have plans to do so this year, but that might change.

Other websites, like timeanddate.com, are planning to provide a livestream of the event. That stream will kick off at 2 p.m. Detroit time, and the eclipse will be at its greatest point at 4:21 p.m.

If you'd prefer to watch an eclipse with your own eyes, you're in luck. The next lunar eclipse will occur over North America on Jan. 21 and Michigan will be able to see the entire thing.

[kach22i]

7/24/2018
Next-Gen Nuclear Is Coming—If Society Wants It
https://www.wired.com/story/next-gen-nuclear/

“The question was, ‘Can we do better than the conventional reactors that were commercialized 60 years ago?” Irish recalled. “And the answer was, ‘Absolutely.’”

Irish was so convinced that this new reactor was a great investment that he bet his career on it. Nearly a decade later, Irish is the CEO of New York City-based Terrestrial Energy, a company that expects to have a molten-salt reactor online before 2030.

Terrestrial is far from alone. Dozens of nuclear startups are popping up around the country, aiming to solve the well-known problems with nuclear power — radioactive waste, meltdowns, weapons proliferation, and high costs.

[Willem Fick]

Would love to get my hands on this:

World's biggest titanium powder printer.

[IROC]

Kind of specific to my neck of the science world, but:

SNS completes full neutron production cycle at record power level

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Aug. 9, 2018—The Spallation Neutron Source at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reached a new milestone by operating a complete neutron production run cycle at 1.3 megawatts.

Achieving the record power level with a remarkable 94 percent accelerator beam availability establishes a new baseline of operation as well as a path to operate reliably at higher powers. Increased power offers researchers the ability to conduct faster scientific analyses using neutrons on more types of materials.

SNS, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, began operations in 2006 and is currently the world’s most powerful pulsed accelerator-based neutron scattering facility, used by scientists to reveal fundamental properties and behaviors of energy and materials at the atomic scale. Neutron contributions at SNS have resulted in advances in electronic devices, improved drug delivery, and stronger building materials for transportation infrastructure.

The facility accelerates protons at nearly 90 percent the speed of light down a linear accelerator and into a ring that compresses the proton pulse by a factor of 1,000. The protons collide with a liquid mercury target, which creates a “spall” of neutrons that flow to powerful instruments where scientists measure the neutrons’ interactions with a variety of materials.

Continuous and reliable operations at 1.3MW during SNS’s latest 12-week production cycle were enabled by a more robust stainless-steel target module and a series of improvements in the accelerator systems that allowed higher proton current and energy. SNS has reached power levels as high as 1.4 MW, but this is the first time the facility has sustained levels as high as 1.3MW over a predicted timeframe.

Oak Ridge scientists and engineers have extended the lifetime of SNS targets by studying the performance of previous targets and making adjustments such as the injection of small bubbles of helium gas into the target vessel’s liquid mercury flow—an improvement that reduces the impact stresses caused by the proton beam.

In 2016, SNS implemented a Target Management Plan to capture performance data and incorporate design improvements in new targets, which are currently installed approximately three times a year. Since the plan’s implementation, each target has performed reliably according to its intended design.

As planned, SNS will operate the next neutron production cycle at 1.4MW.

SNS is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the DOE’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/.

My group is responsible for target design. Here's a picture of the target when we retracted it from the Core Vessel. It's in a hot cell as the dose rates on contact are about 40,000 rads/hr...

[kach22i]

Why all world maps are wrong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIID5FDi2JQ

Vox
Published on Dec 2, 2016
Making accurate world maps is mathematically impossible.