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Submitted via IRC for takyon

UMD Researchers’ Wood-based Technology Creates Electricity from Heat

A University of Maryland-led team of researchers has created a heat-to-electricity device that runs on ions and which could someday harness the body’s heat to provide energy.

[...] This energy is generated using charged channel walls and other unique properties of the wood’s natural nanostructures. With this new wood-based technology, they can use a small temperature differential to efficiently generate ionic voltage, as demonstrated in a paper^[$] published March 25 in the journal Nature Materials.

[...] Trees grow channels that move water between the roots and the leaves. These are made up of fractally-smaller channels, and at the level of a single cell, channels just nanometers or less across. The team has harnessed these channels to regulate ions.

[...] A membrane, made of a thin slice of wood, was bordered by platinum electrodes, with sodium-based electrolyte infiltrated into the cellulose. The[y] regulate the ion flow inside the tiny channels and generate electrical signal. “The charged channel walls can establish an electrical field that appears on the nanofibers and thus help effectively regulate ion movement under a thermal gradient,” said Tian Li, first author of the paper.

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RandomFactor writes:

Japan's space agency is researching the construction of a moon base using robots. The project, which has been in progress for three years already, is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Kajima Corporation (a construction company), and three universities: Shibaura Institute of Technology, The University of Electro-Communications and Kyoto University.

Recently, the collaboration did an experiment on automated construction at the Kajima Seisho Experiment Site in Odawara (central Japan).

A 7-ton autonomous backhoe went through its paces at the site, going through procedures such as driving a specified distance and repeating routine operations, JAXA officials said in a statement. Operations that required more fine handling were performed with a human, by remote control

Presumably they included a two second delay.

Preparing a moonbase will require site preparation, excavation, installation of the module, and then covering it all back up to protect it from radiation.

Too bad we can't get one in place by July 20, 2019. (On July 20, 1969 man first walked on the moon. This year marks the 50th anniversary of that event. Hopefully there will be parties with mooncake.)

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Climate Change: 'Magic Bullet' Carbon Solution Takes Big Step:

A technology that removes carbon dioxide from the air has received significant backing from major fossil fuel companies.

British Columbia-based Carbon Engineering has shown that it can extract CO2 in a cost-effective way.

It has now been boosted by $68m in new investment from Chevron, Occidental and coal giant BHP.

[...]CO2 is a powerful warming gas but there's not a lot of it in the atmosphere - for every million molecules of air, there are 410 of CO2.

While the CO2 is helping to drive temperatures up around the world, the comparatively low concentrations make it difficult to design efficient machines to remove the gas.

Carbon Engineering's process is all about sucking in air and exposing it to a chemical solution that concentrates the CO2. Further refinements mean the gas can be purified into a form that can be stored or utilised as a liquid fuel.

RandomFactor writes:

In 2017, Jameson Lopp, who works in Bitcoin security decided to try, and has largely succeeded in becoming invisible.

Mr. Lopp viewed the exercise as something of an experiment, to find out the lengths he’d have to go to extricate himself from the databases and other repositories that hold our personal information and make it available to anyone willing to pay for it. That helps explain why he was willing to describe the steps he’s taken with me (though he did so from a burner phone, without disclosing his new location).

Lopp outlined the 15 steps he went through to accomplish this in some detail with clarifying information and explanatory notes.

1. Create a new corporate identity.
2. Set up new bank accounts and payment cards.
3. Carry cash.
4. Get a new phone number.
5. Stop using the phone for directions.
6. Move.
7. Make up a fake name for casual interactions.
8. Create a V.P.N. for home internet use.
9. Buy a boring car.
10. Buy a decoy house to fool the D.M.V.
11. Set up a private mailbox and remailing service.
12. Master the art of disguise.
13. Work remotely.
14. Encrypt devices when traveling remotely.
15. Hire private investigators to check your work.

Overall Jameson indicates it took about $30k to disappear.

If you are thinking $30k is a bargain, be aware this cost him in both time and ongoing inconvenience. Also if you have a family in the mix you can likely write it off completely.

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takyon writes:

In San Francisco, Making a Living From Your Billionaire Neighbor's Trash

Three blocks from Mark Zuckerberg's $10 million Tudor home in San Francisco, Jake Orta lives in a small, single-window studio apartment filled with trash.

There's a child's pink bicycle helmet that Mr. Orta dug out from the garbage bin across the street from Mr. Zuckerberg's house. And a vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer, a coffee machine — all in working condition — and a pile of clothes that he carried home in a Whole Foods paper bag retrieved from Mr. Zuckerberg's bin.

A military veteran who fell into homelessness and now lives in government subsidized housing, Mr. Orta is a full-time trash picker, part of an underground economy in San Francisco of people who work the sidewalks in front of multimillion-dollar homes, rummaging for things they can sell.

One Zuck's trash is another man's "like new".

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Looks like Assange may go from the loving arms of the Ecuadorian Embassy to London's finest cell when he is evicted, which is now imminent.

UK police outside Ecuador embassy amid WikiLeaks tweets

Also at The Hill.

Ecuador denies WikiLeaks claim it plans to release Julian Assange

The Ecuadorian government on Friday rejected claims by WikiLeaks that founder Julian Assange would be ousted from his sanctuary at the country's embassy in London "within hours to days."

Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released Friday that the allegation was "an attempt to stain the dignity of the country," according to an NBC News translation. Ecuador "has made significant expenditures to pay for his stay" and has "endured its rudeness," the ministry continued.

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RandomFactor writes:

A tomb unveiled Friday near the Egyptian town of Sohag by the Antiquities Ministry of Egypt, held more than 50 mummified cats, falcons, and mice.

The well preserved and finely painted tomb...is thought to be from the early Ptolemaic period, dating back nearly 2,000 years ago.

The tomb was built for a man named Tutu and his wife, and is one of the seven discovered in the area last October, when authorities found smugglers digging illegally for artefacts, officials said.

Its painted walls depict funeral processions and images of the owner working in the fields, as well as his family genealogy written in hieroglyphics.

The tomb also contained a boy aged 12-14 years and a woman aged 35-50 years. Ptolemaic rule lasted about 300 years, and ended around 30BC after the Roman conquest.

Egypt's tourism industry has been struggling due to internal strife in recent years:

and the antiquities ministry said Friday's presentation was intended to "draw the world's attention to the civilisation and antiquities of Egypt".

The country's plethora of heritage sites is a major draw for tourists and the ministry described Sohag as "one of the most historically rich cities in Egypt", where a museum opened last year.

Tourism revenues employs 12% of the workforce in Egypt and accounts for 11% of its GDP.

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RandomFactor writes:

NASA has announced three winners who will share the $100,000 prize in its competition to make virtual Martian habitats.

The 11 participating groups were tasked with making a full-scale habitat using modeling software, building on an earlier stage of the competition that required partial virtual modeling.

The teams were graded on their layout, programming, use of interior space, and their habitat's ability to be scaled to full size for construction, according to a NASA statement announcing the winners. The groups also received points for their aesthetic representation and realism.

The three winning teams were

        SEArch+/Apis Cor - New York - $33,954.11
        Zopherus – Rogers, Arkansas - $33,422.01
        Mars Incubator – New Haven, Connecticut - $32,623.88

This is the third stage in NASA's 3D Printed Habitat Challenge.

The final stage of the competition will be open to the public in Peoria, Illinois and will be held May 1-4 of this year. It will consist of a head-to-head reduced scale print of the structures. The prize in the last stage of the competition is $800,000.

Previous coverage

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

An Australian Parliamentary committee has recommended that petrol and diesel cars be phased out in favour of electric vehicles in a report. This is not yet law but shows that the government is serious about reducing the dependency Australia has on oil and reducing greenhouse emissions.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

April 2, 2019

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, announced today that he would soon release a proposal to eliminate massive tax breaks enjoyed by the wealthy on their capital gains income. If successful, the proposal would ensure that income from wealth is taxed just like income from work.

His plan, which he has promised to flesh out in a white paper in the coming weeks, would tax the appreciation of assets owned by the very wealthy as income each year, an approach known as mark-to-market taxation. It would also subject that income to ordinary tax rates rather than special, lower income tax rates that apply to capital gains.

https://itep.org/sweeping-reform-would-tax-capital-gains-like-ordinary-income/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/top-democrat-proposes-annual-tax-on-unrealized-capital-gains-11554217383

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

After a vegan cheeseburger crashed and burned Burger King has successfully rolled out a true alternative to meat burgers for vegans working with Impossible Foods to make the vegan Impossible Burger. First thought to be an April Fools joke, the Impossible Burger is now on the menu at St. Louis with one carnivore inclined customer saying that he would not have known that it was plant-based.

Finally, the last barrier to mankind heading for the stars has been reached.

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realDonaldTrump writes:

foxnews.com/science/israels-beresheet-spacecraft-snaps-stunning-images-of-far-side-of-the-moon-ahead-of-lunar-landing

Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft has captured its first images of the far side of the Moon ahead of the probe’s historic lunar landing later this month.

The spacecraft entered lunar orbit Thursday, capturing the dramatic pictures of Earth’s natural satellite.

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takyon writes:

TSMC's 5nm EUV Making Progress: Process design kits, design rule manual, electronic design automation tools, 3rd Party IP Ready

TSMC[*] this week said that it has completed development of tools required for design of SoCs that are made using its 5 nm (CLN5FF, N5) fabrication technology. The company indicated that some of its alpha customers (which use pre-production tools and custom designs) had already started risk production of their chips using its N5 manufacturing process, which essentially means that the technology is on-track for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) in 2020.

TSMC's N5 is the company's 2nd generation fabrication technology that uses both deep ultraviolet (DUV) as well as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The process can use EUVL on up to 14 layers (a tangible progress from N7+, which uses EUVL on four non-critical layers) to enable significant improvements in terms of density. TSMC says that when compared to N7 (1st Gen 7 nm, DUV-only), N5 technology will allow chip developers to shrink die area of their designs by ~45%, making transistor density ~1.8x higher. It will also increase frequency by 15% (at the same complexity and power) or reduce power consumption by 20% power reduction (at the same frequency and complexity).

[*] TSMC - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation

Same chip(let) size? Approximately double the core count.

Previously: TSMC Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for "5nm" Fab, Production to Begin in 2020
TSMC Details Scaling/Performance Gains Expected From "5nm CLN5" Process
TSMC Tapes Out Second-Generation "7nm" Chip Using EUV, Will Begin Risk Production of "5nm" in April

Related: Samsung Plans to Make "5nm" Chips Starting in 2019-2020
ASML Plans to Ship 30 Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) Scanners in 2019

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/oregon/articles/2019-04-04/oregon-senate-oks-permanent-daylight-saving-time

The Oregon Senate has passed a bill establishing permanent Daylight Saving Time in the state, and the Governor has signaled she supports the effort. If it passes the House (and possibly the US Congress, it is a bit ambiguous to me), it could end the semi-annual resetting of clocks which causes so much annoyance and increase of injury and deaths.

Personally speaking, I'd rather it settled on permanent Standard time than Daylight time, but as long as it is steady I think it's better than the current regime.

See also:
Texas efforts: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/03/05/1413228
Europe's efforts: http://fortune.com/2019/03/26/european-union-parliament-daylight-saving-time/
Mandatory XKCD: https://www.xkcd.com/1268/

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Exoplanet tally set to pass 4,000 mark

The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia, run by the Observatoire de Paris, has already passed the 4,000 mark.

[...] The Nasa Exoplanet Archive is 74 planets away from the milestone. But there are 443 planet candidates detected by Nasa's [Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)] space telescope (launched in 2018) awaiting confirmation.

There are a further 2,423 candidates detected by the Kepler space telescope.

The latest exoplanet to be added to the Nasa archive was the Super Earth GI 686 b, which orbits a red dwarf star (a type cooler than our Sun) which was discovered using ground telescopes. It was added on 21 March.

Data flows from NASA's TESS Mission, leads to discovery of Saturn-sized planet

TOI 197.01 (TOI is short for "TESS Object of Interest") – is described as a "hot Saturn" in a recently accepted scientific paper. That's because the planet is about the same size as Saturn and is also very close to its star, completing an orbit in just 14 days, and therefore very hot.

The Astronomical Journal will publish the paper written by an international team of 141 astronomers. Daniel Huber, an assistant astronomer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Institute for Astronomy, is the lead author of the paper. Steve Kawaler, a professor of physics and astronomy; and Miles Lucas, an undergraduate student, are co-authors from Iowa State University.

First exoplanet directly observed with optical interferometry

Astronomers using the four members of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope have made the first direct observation of a planet orbiting another star using optical interferometry.

By combining the light from the four VLT telescope units, and using the sensitive GRAVITY instrument to precisely disentangle the light of the planet from its parent star, the research team found a complex atmosphere of iron and silicates suspended in a planet-wide storm.

Known as HR8799e, the planet is a so-called "super Jupiter" with a temperature of roughly 1,000 degrees C. While the hellish world was discovered in 2010, the GRAVITY measurements provided a spectrum 10 times more detailed than earlier observations, revealing at least some of the chemical constituents of the exoplanet's atmosphere.

Original Submission