Kozminski Techblog

Mimas and the underground ocean

Scientists discovered hints of an ocean beneath the moon’s frozen shell, according to new research published in the planetary science journal Icarus. Despite the fact that the study did not discover conclusive proof, there is now convincing evidence. Water is a key component of habitability, as it helps to create habitats in which life can thrive.

Peculiar widespread Martian aurora discovered

New photographs of Mars from orbit have revealed a spectacular green light show in the planet’s sky.

A wormlike stripe appears to run through much of Mars’ atmosphere, akin to the Northern Lights that can be seen on Earth. The Martian aurora is a twisted, shimmering belt of ultraviolet light that stretches hundreds of kilometers from the planet’s dayside, which faces the sun, to its backside.

Rocket junk slams into the moon

In March, a rocket booster believed to have been left over from a Chinese lunar mission collided with the moon, making it the first known piece of space junk to collide with our natural satellite.

The booster was predicted to produce a 65-foot-long crater, according to scientists. The debris is not from China’s space program, according to the Chinese government.

https://mashable.com/article/space-discoveries-events-2022

https://mashable.com/tech

Hearing each participant clearly is a must during a video call, whether it’s a large business call. or a small, private one. In order to maximize the chance of the message reaching listeners, preventing these interruptions, like echo-related overlaps, is a crucial thing to do.

The new, AI-based voice upgrades implemented by Microsoft for Microsoft Teams, should help every call participant hear each other clearly. The AI used by Microsoft is based on Machine Learning algorithms. Operating on data consisting of roughly 10.000 simulated video rooms, and training from 30.000 hours of speech, Microsoft’s AI is making its way to become a huge factor on which the quality of the call depends.

This feature is live now following months of training. This new AI by its initial implementation itself probably won’t make people choose Teams over rivals like Zoom or Google Meet, but it might be the start of something big for the nearest future.

https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-teams-ai-acoustics-improvement-155617197.html

It is common, that in big US cities 1 person wastes over 1oo hours per year, and tons of fuel. Hopefully, reserachers from Aston University can make long jams at trafic signals a thing of a past, using new AI techniques.

Adjusting the lights by scanning live video footage, AI, using deep reinforcement learning techniqes, learns on its previous outcomes and constantly improves and progresses. The AI system already surpassed all other, more traditional approaches in testing. But how do we know that?

The Aston University researches built a 3D traffic simulator program, where they control the AI’s award system. Everytime the car passes the traffic, an AI gets additional 1+ point. If the car has to stop at the jam, the AI gets -1 point.

The AI’s goal is to reach as many awards as possible. Therefore, learning on it’s own, the traffic AI progresses and learns autonomously on its previous patterns, aiming for another positive point.

The researchers hope on testing this system on real roads, even this year! Can’t wait to see that!

Sources:

https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/publications/fully-autonomous-vision-based-traffic-signal-control-from-simulat

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/3535850.3535902

Reading Time: 2 minutesScientists have recently developed a new type of patch. The goal of a patch is to “fight back against antibiotic resistance and heal wounds more quickly“.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science in China write in their published paper (link in sources) – “However, the common methods of sensing resistance are limited (by time), the requirement for professional personnel, and expensive instruments. Moreover, the abuse of antibiotics causes the accelerated process of bacterial resistance“. However bandage recently discovered, can overcome some of these limitations. Ingredients that are in our patch can be easily distributed and fight bacteria immediately, without professional personnel and equipment required. Moreover, a person wearing bandage gets continuous feedback on what’s happening with the wound.  

The green color on the patch means no bacteria in our wound. The yellow color means that the bacteria are drug-sensitive responsive to our antibiotics. Red color, on the other hand, means that that the bacteria need extra help to be wiped out because it’s drug-resistant. “If drug resistance is detected, an intense beam of light can be used to activate the release of a highly reactive species of oxygen to weaken the bacteria, making them more susceptible to the antibiotic in the material.” – as David Nield from sciencalert.com refers. After testing this kind of bandage on mice, scientists were able to successfully treat both DS (drug-sensitive) and DR (drug-resistant) E.coli bacteria infections using the new method.

In recent years we’ve noticed many updates of traditional bandages, such as nanofibre mesh or the novel bandage for burn wounds, that stop bacteria from multiplying and minimizes the risk of infection. Color changing bandage not only releases antibiotics to the wound but also informs the patient about the situation inside his wound.

Researchers from ACS Central Science say – “This work develops a new way for the rational use of antibiotics, […] given the low cost and easy operation of this point-of-care device, it can be developed for practical applications.”

Sources:

• https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acscentsci.9b01104
• https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-developed-a-colour-changing-bandage-to-detect-bacterial-infections?perpetual=yes&limitstart=1

Reading Time: 2 minutesIt’s winter and we all know how badly our phone reacts to cold temperatures. In this post, I will share with you some tricks that will help you to get the most out of your phone battery.

Keeping your phone charged around 50 percent 

It’s useful to have a piece of basic knowledge of how the charging process works. Two layers are inside the battery – graphite and lithium cobalt oxide. Energy occurs when lithium ions move from the graphite layer to the cobalt oxide. Charing phone moves ions back to graphite to start the whole process again. It’s good to keep a battery charged at 50% when half of the ions are in the lithium cobalt oxide and the other 50% is in the graphite layer. This method puts the least amount of pressure on the lithium ions and therefore – extends the number of cycles and improves the condition of our battery. 

Not leaving your phone charged overnight

Once your phone has reached 100% it gets “trickle charges”. This method stops the charge when the battery is at 100% and after some moment starts charing again, therefore it doesn’t let it drop lower than the maximum. This is bad for the battery because of the continuous strain it puts on lithium ions.

Keeping an eye on your apps

Apps and notifications can quickly take the energy out from your smartphone. Applications running in the background may be a real threat to your phone’s energy. It’s important to remember about closing them frequently. Facebook App is also a big battery drainer – switching off its notifications will extend your battery’s life 

Keeping your phone away from the heat 

Hight temperature makes battery lose capacity.“A cell kept between 25 – 30 degrees Celsius (77 – 86 degrees Fahrenheit) should retain around 80 percent of its capacity after the first year even when cycling from empty to full charge.” – Android Authority reports.

Sources: 

• https://www.wired.co.uk/article/improve-battery-life-phone?fbclid=IwAR1ix0FBRb5pzXWiaP-fC2zwAeBfVBljHFfu9AnTx5RV-tqBPr1Rwo0r1EE
• https://www.sciencealert.com/how-to-charge-phone-battery-to-last-longer-advice-science