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The physicist on a mission to spark a quantum industrial revolution

Source: {'href': 'https://www.newscientist.com', 'title': 'New Scientist'} Published: 2025-03-10 16:00:41

Advertisement Quantum fridges, batteries and clocks are brilliant inventions but still limited in power. Now physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern is charting a path to take them to the next level By Thomas Lewton 10 March 2025 Natalie Foss Natalie Foss The French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson is remembered for, among other things, producing three curious automata in the 18th century. A poster from the time advertised them all side by side: a figure that played a real flute, another that banged a tambourine and a duck that gobbled up corn and seemingly turned it into pellets of… well, use your imagination. For physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern, based at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland, these antiquated automata have a resonance with some of today’s most cutting-edge technology. Vaucanson’s inventions prefigured the industrial revolution, during which mechanisation went from being a quirky curiosity to a force that reshaped the globe. We may be at an analogous turning point today when it comes to quantum technology, says Yunger Halpern. Read moreA bold new take on quantum theory could reveal how reality emerges Read more A bold new take on quantum theory could reveal how reality emerges The steam-powered world of the industrial revolution may seem far removed from the quantum realm. But this period of dramatic change was bolstered by thermodynamics, which deals with heat, work and energy. And, recently, physicists have been applying its ideas to the subatomic realm to devise the new field of quantum thermodynamics. This has seen the development of machines like quantum fridges, batteries and clocks. However, these are just the start of the quantum technology revolution, says Yunger Halpern. She was a co-author of a recent manifesto aiming to chart a path towards greater things. She spoke to New Scientist about what advanced quantum machines might look like, the astounding benefits they could bring and how we can work towards making them a reality. Thomas… Advertisement Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox! We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers. To continue reading, subscribe today with our introductory offers Existing subscribers Advertisement Explore the latest news, articles and features News Free News Subscriber-only Features Subscriber-only News Subscriber-only Trending New Scientist articles Advertisement Download the app

Mysterious object lurking in our solar system could help us crack the '3-body problem'

Source: {'href': 'https://www.livescience.com', 'title': 'Livescience.com'} Published: 2025-03-10 15:47:49

New research suggests that a binary pair of Kuiper Belt objects, known as the Altjira system, is actually made up of three separate bodies orbiting one another in a complex triad. This rare orbital configuration is often referred to as the "three-body problem." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Astronomers may have just identified a rare example of a "three-body problem" hiding in plain sight beyond the solar system's most distant planet. If the observation can be confirmed, it suggests that many more cosmic triplets could be hiding in the outer reaches of our cosmic neighborhood, researchers say. Back in 2001, astronomers discovered what they thought was a binary system made up of two large bodies orbiting each other approximately 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometers) from Earth in the Kuiper Belt — a ring of asteroids, comets and dwarf planets, including Pluto, that lies beyond the orbit of Neptune. The two icy rocks, collectively named 148780 Altjira, are separated by around 4,700 miles (7,600 km), or roughly one-fiftieth the distance between Earth and the moon. (The system is named after the creation deity of the Aboriginal Arrernte people from Australia.) But in a new study published March 4 in The Planetary Science Journal, researchers propose that the inner body in the Altjira system is actually a pair of smaller objects circling extremely close to one another, making this a triple system. The study team came to this conclusion after combining images from the Hubble Space Telescope with 17 years' worth of data collected by the W. M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano. This revealed subtle shifts in the trajectory of the outer body, suggesting that it is being gravitationally tugged on by two objects instead of one. However, the system is too far away to get visual confirmation of the separation of the inner bodies. Related: 8 strange objects that could be hiding in the outer solar system "A triple system was the best fit [when comparing different modeling scenarios]," study lead author Maia Nelsen, an astronomer at Brigham Young University in Utah, said in a NASA statement. However, it is also possible that the inner body could be a "contact binary" — two objects that touch each other and act as a single entity — or "something that actually is oddly flat, like a pancake," she added. Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Over the next 10 years, the Altjira system will be in its "eclipsing season," where the outer body will be frequently positioned between the inner body and the sun, which could allow for more detailed observations of its orbital trajectory, the researchers wrote. During this time, the James Webb Space Telescope is also scheduled to survey the Altjira system, which could conclusively settle the debate with its unmatched image-resolving powers, according to NASA. When three objects with similar mass orbit one another, the mathematics involved in calculating their trajectories becomes extremely challenging and leaves very little room for error. That means the slightest change to one of the objects' trajectories can throw the whole system out of balance. "The puzzle of predicting how three gravitationally bound bodies move in space has challenged mathematicians for centuries," NASA representatives wrote in the statement. This is often referred to as the three-body problem, which has also inspired a popular science fiction novel and a recent TV series of the same name. Several types of triple systems have been found throughout the cosmos, including triple-star systems like our nearest stellar neighbors — the Alpha Centauri system — and "Tatooine" exoplanets with two suns, providing several solutions to this problem. However, there is no single generally accepted solution to working out the orbital mechanics of a triple system, so the "problem" is often considered unsolved. If confirmed as a triple system, Altjira will be the second of its kind discovered in the Kuiper Belt; 47171 Lempo, which has a nearly identical configuration as the one proposed for Altjira, was also previously classified as a binary system. —1 million 'interstellar objects' — each larger than the Statue of Liberty — may lurk in the outer solar system —NASA supercomputer reveals strange spiral structure at the edge of our solar system —An interstellar visitor may have changed the course of 4 solar system planets, study suggests There are around 40 other known binary systems in the Kuiper Belt, some of which could be unrecognized triple systems. However, there are likely many more three-body systems there. So far, scientists have found around 3,000 Kuiper Belt objects, but they estimate that there could be "several hundred thousand more" smaller objects there, each wider than 10 miles (16 km) across, researchers wrote. Therefore, this part of the solar system could be a great place to hunt for many more of these systems. "The universe is filled with a range of three-body systems," Nelson said. "And we're finding that the Kuiper Belt may be no exception." Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior and paleontology. His recent work on the solar maximum won "best space submission" at the 2024 Aerospace Media Awards and was shortlisted in the "top scoop" category at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence in 2023. He also writes Live Science's weekly Earth from space series. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Space photo of the week: Hubble hunts a stellar 'imposter' hiding in the Great Bear 'We're disappointed in the outcome': NASA shares photo of sideways Intuitive Machines moon lander, which died 12 hours after touchdown 166 million-year-old fossil found on Isle of Skye belongs to pony-size dinosaur from Jurassic Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Fossil of pony-size dinosaur finally pulled from Isle of Skye decades after it was found

Source: {'href': 'https://www.livescience.com', 'title': 'Livescience.com'} Published: 2025-03-10 15:42:52

A fossil that was first discovered over 50 years ago has finally been identified as a dinosaur that lived around 166 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A fossil first discovered over 50 years ago has finally been identified as the remains of a pony-sized dinosaur that lived about 166 million years ago. The fossil was spotted at the base of a cliff on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 1973, but it was not collected by paleontologists for another 45 years due to its tricky location. Now, according to a paper published March 6 in the journal Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, this fossil — which includes fragments of a spine, ribs, and hip bones — may be the remains of a dinosaur that lived during the Jurassic Period (201.3 and 145.0 million years ago). This fossil, nicknamed the "Elgol dinosaur" after the village near where it was found, is now considered the most complete dinosaur fossil ever discovered in Scotland, as well as being the earliest ever unearthed there. Located off the northwestern coast of Scotland, the Isle of Skye is the location of several dinosaur fossils and footprints from the Middle Jurassic period, which is poorly represented in the global fossil record. Related: Megalodon may have grown up to 80 feet long — far larger than previous estimates "This is a wonderful addition to the rapidly growing set of Jurassic finds from the Isle of Skye which are enabling us to learn more and more about the rich ecosystem of the time," study co-author Stig Walsh, a senior curator of vertebrate palaeobiology at National Museums Scotland, said in a statement. Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. The newly identified dinosaur may have been about the size of a pony, and was at least eight years old when it died, according to the researchers. The fossil was first recorded by paleontologists during field trips between 1971 and 1982, with a 1973 notebook entry mentioning "bones of a dinosaur" in a cliff with a small sketch. The original discoverers didn't realize its significance, and due to its awkward location, it was exceedingly difficult to remove from the ground. Researchers rediscovered the fragmented fossil in 2015, and itwas eventually excavated and transported from its cliff location in 2018. "This was a really challenging extraction, in fact we'd previously felt was too difficult to collect the fossil, but I thought it was really important to study it," study lead author Elsa Panciroli, a NERC Independent Research Fellow at National Museums Scotland, said in the statement. "I was able to persuade the team to give it a try. It took a lot of hard work from a lot of people, but we did it: finally we can confirm and publish Scotland's first recorded and most complete dinosaur, and that makes it all worthwhile." Paleontologists then studied the fossil using a range of techniques, including micro-CT scanning, which is a non-destructive imaging technique that uses X-rays to create highly detailed 3D images of small objects at a microscopic scale. The shape and microstructure of the bones, and the fact they were found within the Kilmaluag Formation — a geological formation dating to the Middle Jurassic — indicated that the fossil may be the remains of a cerapodan or ornithopod dinosaur. Cerapodan dinosaurs are a major group of ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs, which have a pelvic structure resembling that of modern birds. Ornithopods are one herbivorous sub-group of cerapodans that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, and had beaked mouths for cropping vegetation. One of the most well-known groups of ornithopods were Iguanodons, which were one of the first dinosaurs ever named. —Australia's 'upside down' dinosaur age had two giant predators, 120 million-year-old fossils reveal —What if a giant asteroid had not wiped out the dinosaurs? —Enormous skull of 200-million-year-old giant dinosaur discovered in China If this new dinosaur is indeed ornithopodan, it may be among the earliest ornithischian fossils, and possibly the oldest ornithopodan body fossil in the world. "Some aspects of the bones indicate that the specimen may be an ornithopod, a group of plant-eating dinosaurs that are best known from the Cretaceous," study co-author Susie Maidment, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, said in the statement. "This specimen, however, would already have been a fossil by the time that the better-known ornithopods like Iguanodon and Hypsilophodon were walking the Earth," she said. "Recent research on the fossils of Elgol has revealed a diverse ecosystem of extraordinarily preserved Middle Jurassic animals, and I'm sure there are more exciting discoveries to come." Jess Thomson is a freelance journalist. She previously worked as a science reporter for Newsweek, and has also written for publications including VICE, The Guardian, The Cut, and Inverse. Jess holds a Biological Sciences degree from the University of Oxford, where she specialised in animal behavior and ecology. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Australia's 'upside down' dinosaur age had two giant predators, 120 million-year-old fossils reveal What if a giant asteroid had not wiped out the dinosaurs? Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 binocular review Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Male octopus injects female with venom during sex to avoid being eaten

Source: {'href': 'https://www.newscientist.com', 'title': 'New Scientist'} Published: 2025-03-10 15:02:37

'Amazing' spinning needle proof unlocks a whole new world of maths

Source: {'href': 'https://www.newscientist.com', 'title': 'New Scientist'} Published: 2025-03-10 14:53:04

We may finally understand how metformin lowers blood sugar, animal study finds

Source: {'href': 'https://www.livescience.com', 'title': 'Livescience.com'} Published: 2025-03-10 14:40:00

The common diabetes drug metformin works partly by excreting sugar from the bloodstream into the intestines, where gut bacteria then convert it into chemicals that improve the insulin response. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Since the 1990s, doctors have prescribed the drug metformin to treat type 2 diabetes, but scientists didn't fully understand how it worked. Now, new research fills in one piece of the puzzle: Metformin triggers the body to expel glucose from the bloodstream into the intestines, where bacteria feed on the carbohydrate to make compounds that may help control blood sugar levels. In the new study, published March 3 in the journal Communications Medicine, researchers calculated that metformin treatment increased how much glucose was released into the gut nearly fourfold. That seemed to boost the production of fatty compounds that help protect the gut and reduce inflammation. Multiple pathways Most research has focused on metformin's effects in the liver, where it boosts how cells respond to insulin and blocks the synthesis of the sugar glucose. But some studies have suggested that the drug also acts on the gut, perhaps by blocking glucose uptake into the bloodstream. "Many people are working on the gut action of metformin because if you take metformin orally, the intestines are exposed to very high concentrations," said senior study author Dr. Wataru Ogawa, a medical researcher at Kobe University in Japan. (Ogawa received research support and lecture fees from the metformin manufacturer Sumitomo Pharma.) Previously, Ogawa's team showed that the body excretes glucose into the hollow tunnel of the human gut where food and waste travel, known as the lumen. This happens in people with and without diabetes. "It means that this is a physiological function that humans have," Ogawa told Live Science. Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Related: Ozempic-style drugs tied to more than 60 health benefits and risks in biggest study-of-its-kind In the new study, the researchers found that metformin nearly quadrupled the rate of glucose excretion into the gut in five people with type 2 diabetes, and they replicated those findings in mice. Keeping glucose out of circulation by directing it to the gut might directly lower blood sugar levels, but scientists told Live Science they think this explains only part of metformin’s therapeutic effects. Nicola Morrice, a metformin researcher at the University of Dundee in Scotland who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email, "I do not expect this to be the drug's main mechanism of action." Besides drawing sugar out of the bloodstream, excreted glucose could also have an indirect effect on blood sugar by feeding gut bacteria, other experts told Live Science. Dr. José-Manuel Fernández-Real, a medical researcher at the University of Girona in Spain who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email, "Some bacteria, particularly those that thrive on simple sugars, may experience increased growth, while others that rely on complex carbohydrates or fiber fermentation might be less affected." A glucose molecule has a backbone of six carbon atoms, so to determine the rate at which gut bacteria break down glucose into other molecules, Ogawa had to find a way to keep track of these carbons. His team injected mice with glucose containing a "heavy" isotope, meaning a version of carbon that carries an extra neutron. This allowed them to trace the heavy carbons as the bacteria transformed glucose into other compounds. Stool samples revealed that bacteria in mice treated with metformin had converted the heavy glucose into short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). "Bacterial species that produce short chain fatty acids are generally 'good' bacteria," suggesting metformin’s effects could potentially foster a healthy microbiome, Ogawa said. Metformin treatment caused SCFAs containing heavy carbon to increase by just 1% in stool samples. However, Manuel Vázquez-Carrera, a pharmacology researcher at the University of Barcelona who was not involved with the study, told Live Science in an email that "most SCFAs are rapidly absorbed and utilized rather than excreted." That means the measurement was likely an underestimate. And "even a slight rise in SCFA production could enhance gut barrier function, reduce inflammation, and improve insulin sensitivity, all of which are beneficial for managing diabetes," Fernández-Real speculated. —Metformin cuts risk of long COVID by 40% in patients with obesity, trial suggests —Sugar-loving fruit bats' genes could point to new diabetes treatments, scientists say —In a 1st, scientists reversed type 1 diabetes by reprogramming a person's own fat cells The study had a few limitations. First, the researchers did not assess how higher levels of gut SCFAs affected the health of the mice. It also included "a very small number of participants who were receiving varying doses of metformin as part of their treatment regimes," Morrice said. The mouse work also involved only male rodents, so possible sex differences in the drug's actions were not explored. Beyond testing metformin's effects on five diabetes patients, Ogawa said he has finished a larger, gold-standard trial in humans to further study the drug's impacts on the gut. The researchers haven't completed the analysis, but as of yet, they haven't seen any sex differences. Morrice suggested that future work could explore how metformin affects glucose excretion in mice that consume different diets, such as high-fat, high-sugar diets, which are linked to obesity. This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice. Kamal Nahas is a freelance contributor based in Oxford, U.K. His work has appeared in New Scientist, Science and The Scientist, among other outlets, and he mainly covers research on evolution, health and technology. He holds a PhD in pathology from the University of Cambridge and a master's degree in immunology from the University of Oxford. He currently works as a microscopist at the Diamond Light Source, the U.K.'s synchrotron. When he's not writing, you can find him hunting for fossils on the Jurassic Coast. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. When is cancer considered cured, versus in remission? Meta scientists use AI to decode magnetic brain scans, revealing how thoughts translate into typed sentences Saucer-like 'Winnebago' space capsule lands in Australia — marking 1st for commercial space industry Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Meta scientists use AI to decode magnetic brain scans, revealing how thoughts translate into typed sentences

Source: {'href': 'https://www.livescience.com', 'title': 'Livescience.com'} Published: 2025-03-10 13:00:00

An AI model can scan your brain with non-invasive equipment and convert your thoughts into typed sentences — with no implants required. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Scientists at Meta have used artificial intelligence (AI) and noninvasive brain scans to unravel how thoughts are translated into typed sentences, two new studies show. In one study, scientists developed an AI model that decoded brain signals to reproduce sentences typed by volunteers. In the second study, the same researchers used AI to map how the brain actually produces language, turning thoughts into typed sentences. The findings could one day support a noninvasive brain-computer interface that could help people with brain lesions or injuries to communicate, the scientists said. "This was a real step in decoding, especially with noninvasive decoding," Alexander Huth, a computational neuroscientist at the University of Texas at Austin who was not involved in the research, told Live Science. Related: AI 'brain decoder' can read a person's thoughts with just a quick brain scan and almost no training Brain-computer interfaces that use similar decoding techniques have been implanted in the brains of people who have lost the ability to communicate, but the new studies could support a potential path to wearable devices. In the first study, the researchers used a technique called magnetoencephalography (MEG), which measures the magnetic field created by electrical impulses in the brain, to track neural activity while participants typed sentences. Then, they trained an AI language model to decode the brain signals and reproduce the sentences from the MEG data. Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. The model decoded the letters that participants typed with 68% accuracy. Frequently occurring letters were decoded correctly more often, while less-common letters, like Z and K, came with higher error rates. When the model made mistakes, it tended to substitute characters that were physically close to the target letter on a QWERTY keyboard, suggesting that the model uses motor signals from the brain to predict which letter a participant typed. The team's second study built on these results to show how language is produced in the brain while a person types. The scientists collected 1,000 MEG snapshots per second as each participant typed a few sentences. From these snapshots, they decoded the different phases of sentence production. They found that the brain first generates information about the context and meaning of the sentence, and then produces increasingly granular representations of each word, syllable and letter as the participant types. "These results confirm the long-standing predictions that language production requires a hierarchical decomposition of sentence meaning into progressively smaller units that ultimately control motor actions," the authors wrote in the study. To prevent the representation of one word or letter from interfering with the next, the brain uses a "dynamic neural code" to keep them separate, the team found. This code constantly shifts where each piece of information is represented in the language-producing parts of the brain. That lets the brain link successive letters, syllables, and words while maintaining information about each over longer periods of time. However, the MEG experiments were not able to pinpoint exactly where in those brain regions each of these representations of language arises. —Meta just stuck its AI somewhere you didn't expect it — a pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses —Artificial general intelligence — when AI becomes more capable than humans — is just moments away, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg declares —'ChatGPT moment for biology': Ex-Meta scientists develop AI model that creates proteins 'not found in nature' Taken together, these two studies, which have not been peer-reviewed yet, could help scientists design noninvasive devices that could improve communication in people who have lost the ability to speak. Although the current setup is too bulky and too sensitive to work properly outside a controlled lab environment, advances in MEG technology may open the door to future wearable devices, the researchers wrote. "I think they're really at the cutting edge of methods here," Huth said. "They are definitely doing as much as we can do with current technology in terms of what they can pull out of these signals." Skyler Ware is a freelance science journalist covering chemistry, biology, paleontology and Earth science. She was a 2023 AAAS Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellow at Science News. Her work has also appeared in Science News Explores, ZME Science and Chembites, among others. Skyler has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. AGI could now arrive as early as 2026 — but not all scientists agree 'Math Olympics' has a new contender — Google's AI now 'better than human gold medalists' at solving geometry problems Saucer-like 'Winnebago' space capsule lands in Australia — marking 1st for commercial space industry Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. © Future US, Inc. 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Saucer-like 'Winnebago' space capsule lands in Australia — marking 1st for commercial space industry

Source: {'href': 'https://www.livescience.com', 'title': 'Livescience.com'} Published: 2025-03-10 12:54:04

Varda Space Industries' W-2 space capsule reentered Earth's atmosphere and touched down in the Australian outback last month, becoming the first commercial spacecraft to land Down Under. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A saucer-like space capsule touched down in the Australian outback last month, marking the first time a commercial spacecraft has landed Down Under. Varda Space Industries' Winnebago-2 (W-2) space capsule reentered Earth's atmosphere and dropped down in South Australia on Feb. 28. In doing so, W-2 also set a world first by becoming the first commercial spacecraft to return to a commercial spaceport, according to a statement released by the Australian Space Agency. The successful return of W-2 was a "landmark moment for the Australian space sector," Australian Space Agency representatives wrote in the statement. The company behind W-2, Varda, is an American startup based in California. W-2 originally left Earth from California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 14 as part of the Transporter-12 rideshare mission — the Transporter carries satellites from various customers into space. W-2 then spent 45 days in orbit, carrying payloads from the U.S. Air Force and NASA before dropping down to the Koonibba Test Range, run by Australian aerospace company Southern Launch. Related: Watch: SpaceX Starship explodes mid-flight for a 2nd time this year, raining fiery debris over Florida W-2 weighed 265 pounds (120 kilograms) and had various technologies onboard to advance space research. For example, W-2 carried Varda’s expanded pharmaceutical reactor, which allows for the production of medicine in space, according to a statement released by Southern Launch. The space capsule was also equipped with a heatshield developed with NASA and a spectrometer built by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The spectrometer, known as Optical Sensing of Plasmas in the ReEntry Environment (OSPREE), measured the environment around the capsule as it reentered at speeds exceeding Mach 25, which is 25 times the speed of sound, or around 19,000 miles per hour (31,000 kilometers per hour), according to a statement released by Varda. Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. —Sunrise on the moon captured by Blue Ghost spacecraft after NASA and Firefly Aerospace announce successful lunar landing —Katy Perry will launch to space with historic all-female crew on Blue Origin rocket —Chinese scientists reveal plans for near-invisible stealth missiles that could 'redefine modern warfare' "We are ecstatic to have W-2 back on our home planet safely and are proud to support significant reentry research for our government partners as we continue building a thriving foundation for economic expansion to low Earth orbit," Varda CEO Will Bruey said in the statement. The Southern Launch team watched the W-2 reentry from the ground with advanced tracking telescopes and led the recovery operations, which included representatives from the Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation, the traditional owners of the land where the capsule landed, according to the Southern Launch statement. "For Australia, this mission ushers in a new era of space capabilities for the nation," Southern Launch representatives wrote in its statement. "The W-2 mission was the first time a commercial space craft re-entry was granted under Australian legislation and is just the first of many scheduled to return to the Koonibba Test Range." Patrick Pester is the trending news writer at Live Science. His work has appeared on other science websites, such as BBC Science Focus and Scientific American. Patrick retrained as a journalist after spending his early career working in zoos and wildlife conservation. He was awarded the Master's Excellence Scholarship to study at Cardiff University where he completed a master's degree in international journalism. He also has a second master's degree in biodiversity, evolution and conservation in action from Middlesex University London. When he isn't writing news, Patrick investigates the sale of human remains. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. NASA switches off Voyager instruments to extend life of the two interstellar spacecraft: 'Every day could be our last.' Watch: SpaceX Starship explodes mid-flight for a 2nd time this year, raining fiery debris over Florida Scientists spot water molecules flipping before they split, and it could help them produce cheaper hydrogen fuel Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Scientists spot water molecules flipping before they split, and it could help them produce cheaper hydrogen fuel

Source: {'href': 'https://www.livescience.com', 'title': 'Livescience.com'} Published: 2025-03-10 11:00:00

Splitting water molecules takes more energy than calculations suggest, and is a key roadblock to cheap hydrogen fuel production. Now, scientists have discovered why. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. For the first time, scientists have observed water molecules splitting in real time to form hydrogen and oxygen. And right before they split, the molecules did something completely unexpected: They flipped 180 degrees. This micro acrobatic stunt takes energy, which offers a crucial explanation for why splitting water takes more energy than theoretical calculations suggested. The researchers say that studying this further could offer key insights into making the process of splitting water molecules more efficient — opening a pathway to cheaper clean hydrogen fuel and breathable oxygen for future Mars missions. They published their findings March 5 in the journal Science Advances. Hydrogen has a number of key properties that make it an enticing source of green energy. The energy-rich fuel is capable of powering trucks and even cargo ships, and it is the only alternative to fossil fuels in industries such as steel and fertilizer manufacturing. When it's burned, the fuel releases water instead of carbon dioxide. Yet the steep energy requirements for hydrogen production severely limit the scale at which the fuel is produced. According to the International Energy Authority, 322 million tonnes (354 million tons) of hydrogen fuel needs to be produced each year to meet global energy needs. But in 2023, only 97 million tonnes (107 million tons) was manufactured at a monetary cost 1.5 to six times greater than fossil fuel production — and the vast majority of it was made using fossil fuels too. Related: Scientists discover revolutionary method that makes fuel from water and sunlight — but it's not finished yet Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. Hydrogen fuel is made by adding water to an electrode and then splitting the water with an applied voltage into hydrogen and oxygen. This process is most efficient when the chemical element iridium is used as a catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction that cleaves oxygen from water molecules. But iridium only arrives on our planet from meteorite impacts, making it costly and scarce. But even when using iridium, the process is less efficient than scientists believe it should be. "It ends up taking more energy than theoretically calculated. If you do the math, it should require 1.23 volts. But, in reality, it requires more like 1.5 or 1.6 volts," study lead author Franz Geiger, a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University, said in a statement. "Providing that extra voltage costs money, and that's why water splitting hasn't been implemented at a large scale." To better understand the energy requirements of this process and why it's less efficient than theory suggests, the researchers placed water on an electrode inside a container and measured the molecules' positions using the amplitude and phase of laser light shone onto them. When the scientists applied a voltage across the electrode, they observed that the molecules rapidly flipped and rotated so that their two hydrogen atoms touching the electrode faced up and the oxygen atom faced down. —Just a fraction of the hydrogen hidden beneath Earth's surface could power Earth for 200 years, scientists find —Solar power stations in space could be the answer to our energy needs —EV batteries could last much longer thanks to new capacitor with 19-times higher energy density that scientists created by mistake "Electrodes are negatively charged, so the water molecule wants to put its positively charged hydrogen atoms toward the electrode's surface," Geiger said. "In that position, electron transfer from water's oxygen atom to the electrode's active site is blocked. When the electric field becomes strong enough, it causes the molecules to flip, so the oxygen atoms point toward the electrode's surface. Then, the hydrogen atoms are out of the way, and the electrons can move from water's oxygen to the electrode." By measuring the number of molecules that rotated and the energy required for them to do so, the researchers found that this flipping was likely a necessary and unavoidable part of the splitting process. What's more, the researchers discovered that higher pH levels made this process more efficient. Further studying this process could help scientists to design more efficient catalysts to use in the process, and to better understand the chemical processes involved, the researchers said, while also offering fresh insights into how water behaves. "Our work underscores how little we know about water at interfaces," Geiger said. "Water is tricky, and our new technology could help us understand it a bit better." "By designing new catalysts that make water flipping easier, we could make water splitting more practical and cost-effective," he added. Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he's not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. New fabric can heat up more than 50 degrees to keep people warm in ultracold weather New wonder material designed by AI is as light as foam but as strong as steel Onfim's doodle: A 13th-century kid's self-portrait on horseback, slaying an enemy Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Science diplomacy can help to heal global rifts — if research is respected

Source: {'href': 'https://www.nature.com', 'title': 'Nature.com'} Published: 2025-03-10 09:00:40

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Advertisement You have full access to this article via your institution. Protesters outside an IPCC meeting in Sweden in 2013 urge policymakers to accept that humans are warming the planet.Credit: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty We are in an era of disruption. The geopolitical context is increasingly adversarial, power is more widely distributed, and relationships among leading powers have become more competitive.” These are the opening lines of Science Diplomacy in an Era of Disruption, a report published last month by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, based in Washington DC, and the Royal Society in London. The organizations clearly leave no doubt as to why the report is needed, adding: “Scientific values once thought universal are now being re-examined. Trust in science and the use of evidence in policymaking is under renewed attack across the world.” US pulls back from gold-standard scientific climate panel US pulls back from gold-standard scientific climate panel Science diplomacy is the use of science to improve international cooperation, according to one definition. The document updates a report that the two organizations published in 2010, a different, indeed more optimistic, time for international cooperation — talks on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, for example, involving nearly 200 countries, would begin the following year. Today, by contrast, the United States, Europe and China are restricting their areas of cooperation and ramping up competition. Also different is that industry is a more visible presence in science diplomacy than in the past, and firms have resources exceeding those of many governments to promote their interests. “We need a framework on the practice of science diplomacy that recognizes the world for what it is,” the updated report notes. The question it doesn’t fully answer, however, is how to do science diplomacy when the integrity of science itself is under attack from national actors, including the elected government of the United States, the world science superpower of recent decades. How, when the legitimacy of global scientific institutions is increasingly being challenged, can science be deployed in diplomacy — for example, to resolve disagreements on global challenges such as protecting the environment or public health? Events even since the report was published suggest more challenges that any new approach to science diplomacy must fully meet. Drill, baby drill? Trump policies will hurt climate ― but US green transition is underway Drill, baby drill? Trump policies will hurt climate ― but US green transition is underway Take the situation with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As Nature’s news team has been reporting, the United States, a significant supporter of the IPCC, looks to be on a path to pulling away from the underlying scientific infrastructure of world climate policy. For the first time in IPCC history, the United States did not send a delegation to attend a key meeting of the panel, in China, where the themes for the next global assessment report were being decided. This followed separate White House executive orders: one cancelled US funding for the UN climate convention; the other ordered a review of US membership of international organizations. Since the IPCC’s founding in 1988, governments representing all systems of political thought have invited scientists to review the literature on climate change. The results of that knowledge have fed into talks to achieve legally binding agreements, such as the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, or the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. IPCC meetings are frequently argumentative affairs for all sorts of reasons. However, and crucially, politicians do not instruct the researchers on which papers to read or what to write in their reviews. IPCC leaders past and present have been supported by their funders to follow the consensus of evidence when coming to a conclusion. The IPCC has experienced many stresses and strains over the years, but the system of governments protecting the integrity of the review process has held. Now, it seems, at least one of the panel’s sponsoring governments is no longer willing to play that part. Even if deprived of US input, the IPCC must continue publishing its authoritative reports. But a potential US withdrawal poses a direct challenge to science diplomacy, with a key member of the international community refusing to recognize that science has a role in resolving disagreements on climate action. One approach to protecting science in diplomacy is outlined in a separate report by the European Union, also published last month. Entitled A European Framework for Science Diplomacy, it recommends that science move closer to the centre of EU policymaking. “There is hardly any (geo-)political development not affected by the output of research and innovation,” it says. Europe’s science, and therefore its scientists, must “become more visible and be at the core rather than at the fringe” of “foreign and security policy as well as research and innovation policy”, it says. Such a shift will not be straightforward for researchers. They lack incentives to participate in policy work, as a survey in Nature last year showed (Nature 636, 26–30; 2024). Researchers who do participate are more used to providing advisory evidence, while staying at arm’s length from actual policy decisions. This distance ensures that responsibility for decisions rests with politicians and not their expert advisers, and it has mostly served research well in ‘peacetime’. Science could solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Why aren’t governments using it? Science could solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Why aren’t governments using it? But now that science itself is being contested, there are persuasive arguments as to why researchers need to be in the room when big decisions are being made on subjects such as climate change, pandemic preparedness or the regulation of artificial intelligence. If researchers accept the invitation to join the EU’s policymaking high table, their presence might also provide them with a way to protect the ‘science’ in science diplomacy should there be calls for budget cuts or attempts at the kind of interference now being seen in the United States. One of the EU report’s weaknesses is that it assumes a shared understanding on the part of diplomats and policymakers that researchers must be able to operate without direct interference. The experience of the United States tells us that this cannot be assumed. If the EU report’s recommendations are to be implemented, one necessary, although not sufficient, step, must be to write researchers’ ability to operate independently into law, as it already is in some countries, albeit imperfectly. Science diplomacy is needed more now than at any time in history, given the scale of challenges the world faces. Research is often described as a form of ‘soft power’ diplomacy, a way for nations to advance their national interests without using military means. The first step towards protecting science diplomacy must be to protect science itself. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00726-8 Reprints and permissions US pulls back from gold-standard scientific climate panel Drill, baby drill? Trump policies will hurt climate ― but US green transition is underway Science could solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Why aren’t governments using it? Bucking the system: the extraordinary story of how the SDGs came to be A 100th birthday wish: uphold academic freedom in dark times Amazonian deforestation makes the wet season wetter, and the dry season dryer News & Views 05 MAR 25 Continued Atlantic overturning circulation even under climate extremes Article 26 FEB 25 US pulls back from gold-standard scientific climate panel News 26 FEB 25 ‘Scientists will not be silenced’: thousands protest Trump research cuts News 07 MAR 25 Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants News 06 MAR 25 Ukraine’s research sector is struggling — can Europe help? Nature Index 28 FEB 25 Our experience of teaching neuroscience in a maximum-security prison Career Column 10 MAR 25 ‘Silence is complicity’ — universities must fight the anti-DEI crackdown World View 05 MAR 25 We moved a conference halfway around the globe to avoid visa discrimination World View 04 MAR 25 As an Associate Editor of PRL, you would handle all phases of the peer review process and ultimately decide which papers we publish. Homeworking (Remote US) American Physical Society At all ranks who focus on research in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Machine Learning in Health Care and Medical Sciences. Beijing, China The Chinese Institutes for Medical Research (CIMR), Beijing Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Medicine is one of the world’s leading French-language medical faculties. In both teaching and research, its mi... Montréal, Quebec (CA) Université de Montréal IPI is seeking a Principal Scientist to drive research at the intersection of molecular neuroscience and protein science. Boston, Massachusetts (US) Institute for Protein Innovation Tampa, Florida H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute You have full access to this article via your institution. US pulls back from gold-standard scientific climate panel Drill, baby drill? Trump policies will hurt climate ― but US green transition is underway Science could solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Why aren’t governments using it? Bucking the system: the extraordinary story of how the SDGs came to be A 100th birthday wish: uphold academic freedom in dark times An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. 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