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30 January 2022
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The world’s first farm of mechanical CO2 absorbing trees will start operating in April

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The world’s first farm of mechanical CO2 absorbing trees will start operating in April

In a recent interview with Inverse, University of Arizona professor Klaus Luckner talked about how mechanical trees, he has developed, will capture CO2 from the air.

According to the professor, they are columns consisting of disks with a diameter of more than one and a half meters, covered with a special resin. The distance between the disks is about 5 cm. At the moment the air passes through this structure, the disks absorb atmospheric CO2. It takes approximately 20 minutes for the disks to fill with carbon dioxide, after which they are immersed in a container below, where water and steam move CO2 into a closed chamber.

Last July, Luckner received a $2.5 million grant from the US Department of Energy to work on his trapping devices. The scientist plans to create three farms capable of absorbing up to 1000 tons of CO2 per day. The first farm will start operating in April.

In his interview, Luckner recalled that the current CO2 capture technologies are very imperfect, and therefore cannot significantly reduce the effect of global warming. In contrast, “mechanical trees” will consume a minimum amount of energy.

However, according to the professor, the key problem is the preservation of the collected CO2, because if it “runs away” back into the atmosphere, then our grandchildren will have to “catch” it again.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-carboncapture-idUSKCN1S52CG

https://www.inverse.com/innovation/mechanical-trees-co2-climate-change

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30 January 2022
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Scientists have discovered an ocean on Saturn’s moon

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A scientific team from the Southwestern Research Institute in Texas have reported that there is a liquid ocean under the ice of Saturn’s moon Mimas. Previously, scientists believed that the satellite consists entirely of frozen water.

The Cassini space probe in the last days of its work recorded fluctuations in the rotation of Mimas. Usually, these phenomena indicate the geological activity of the body, which is able to maintain the internal ocean in a liquid state.

Ice moon geophysicist and lead author of the study, Dr. Alyssa Rhodes, said the surface of the moon does not betray the presence of an ocean underneath. She says it could be classified as a new type of ocean world.

In the solar system, there are bodies where the oceans are hidden under ice and rocks, for example, on the satellites Titan, Europa and Enceladus, as well as the planetoid Pluto. The Earth must be within a narrow range of distance from the Sun in order to keep the oceans liquid. However, the listed objects are in a wider range of distances.

Previously, scientists believed that Mimas was entirely made of ice, as craters on its surface indicated this. Enceladus and Europa are devoid of such depressions, they have cracks and other evidence of geological activity. The observation broadens the definition of potentially habitable worlds within the solar system and beyond, Rhodes notes.

The scientists concluded that tidal heating in the interior of Mimas must be high enough to keep the liquid from freezing, but still leave a sizable shell of ice that spans between 22.5 and 32.1 km.

Rhoden says the results of the study show the presence of an ocean on Saturn’s moon, but it is still difficult for scientists to reconcile the orbital and geological characteristics of Mimas with current understanding of its thermal and orbital evolution.

The researcher explains that this discovery will help to better understand the nature of the rings of Saturn and its satellites, as well as in the search for potentially habitable sea satellites, such as Uranus. Scientists promise to continue research on Mimas.

Sources:

https://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/news/75953/

https://www.wibw.com/2022/01/26/saturns-death-star-moon-may-have-hidden-ocean-scientists-discover/

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30 January 2022
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The Russian operating system “Phantom” was brought to testing after 12 years of development from scratch

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The main version of the Phantom operating system is ready for trial projects, and a full release is scheduled for the end of 2022. Dmitry Zavalishin, the main developer of the system, said this in an interview with CNews. Zavalishin has been working on the system since 2010 together with employees of the DZ Systems holding, whose first company he founded in 2005.

The “Phantom” system differs from classic Windows, Linux and macOS – it uses persistent virtual memory, managed code and global address space.

Persistent virtual memory implies the “continuity” of process execution and high reliability of data storage. Applications “do not see” reboots and shutdowns, from their point of view, the system works non-stop and constantly saves all data changes. The user does not need to take care of saving files and backups himself – even a crash will not damage them. There are no files in Phantom at all – instead of them, the system operates with objects that are directly accessible by pointers.

Managed code protects each object and prevents the programmer from manually working with memory – this immediately cuts off most of the errors and vulnerabilities that damage user data and allow viruses to spread. Classical systems protect only processes from each other, while literally anything can happen inside them.

The global address space provides maximum program execution performance. Classical systems divide memory into kernel space and user space – the core of the system (the central part that controls all resources) works in the first one, and user applications work in the second. During operation, the system has to switch between these spaces millions of times per second, which is bad for performance. “Phantom” is spared from these switches – all processes interact with each other through the direct transfer of references to objects. In a classic system, this is an extremely dangerous approach, but not in a managed code system.

The main niche of “Phantom” is embedded systems – the control of industrial equipment and household appliances, the Internet of things and other tasks where Linux now dominates. DZ Systems is working on porting the Phantom to the Genode framework, a special “strap” for microkernel operating systems that allows you to run regular Linux programs. This version should be released by the end of 2022.

In the future, Zavalishin and his colleagues plan to transfer Phantom to the seL4 microkernel in order to mathematically check the entire system and prove the absence of errors and vulnerabilities in it. This will create the basis for building extremely reliable and secure software systems.

Source:

https://www.tinkoff.ru/invest/news/744662/

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30 January 2022
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US start-ups raise record investments in 2021

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Private startups withinside the US raised a complete of $329.8 billion in venture capital investment closing year, almost doubling their 2020 result, according to PitchBook data from the Financial Times. In 2020, venture capitalists invested $166.6 billion in startups, which changed into additionally a report. 

         In 2021, traders have invested approximately 4 times extra money in startups than 5 years ago, writes the FT. More than 1/2 of of closing year`s overall got here from investment rounds of greater than $100 million, indicating that investors have proven a willingness to make investments big sums in distinctly younger corporations, the FT notes. 

         Venture capital investors paid huge cash for stakes in promising startups that increase develop software (SW), despite the fact that once in a while that they’d small incomes. This is pushed by high demand for business software, e-commerce vendors and other companies that have benefited from the pandemic. 

For example, in November, investors valued two-year-old startup Stytch, which develops authentication software, at $1 billion, regardless of the reality that its annual income was less than $1 million.

 Cryptocurrency startups had been additionally extraordinarily famous with traders. OpenSea, a market for fungible tokens, has raised $300M in investment and raised its valuation from $1.5B to $13.3B. 

         Private startups worldwide raised a total of $671 billion last year, greater than 90% greater than in 2020, in line with PitchBook. 

         Greg Bohlen, co-founder of Union Grove Venture Partners, which mostly invests in venture capital price range, stated the company has “taken a break” from a few fund which have lately been trying to raise new capital quickly. “What we see is irrational,” he stated.

Source:

https://www.forbes.ru/finansy/451925-amerikanskie-startapy-privlekli-rekordnye-investicii-v-2021-godu

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30 January 2022
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Biologists have regrown the amputated legs of the frog. Maybe people can do that too.

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A team of US and Canadian biologists have learned how to regenerate anamputated frog leg. Scientists hope that in the future, their technology will allow humans to recover their lost limbs.

For regeneration, the stump was covered with silicone and spider silk containing hydrogel containing a signaling protein cocktail. It acts on the genetic code, preventing connective tissue from closing wounds and activating repair mechanisms that disappear with age. Tadpoles can grow their limbs perfectly, but adults lack this ability.

In the experiment, 115 frogs were divided into three groups. The first had a cap with a cocktail, the second had an empty cap, and the third had nothing. In 18 months, the amputation site was simply overgrown with the second and third groups of frogs, while the first group of individuals grew full-fledged legs with bones, blood vessels, and nerves. They fully moved and felt touch.

The limbs were slightly smaller than the original ones, and the fingers were not so clearly formed. However, this may be due to the cap being removed too early. It is possible that the paws would have continued to form further.

The human body also has the ability to regenerate in childhood. For example, it can re-grow its fingertips. Biologists believe that their cocktails can be used by humans to recover lost arms and legs.

Source:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scia

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