Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: energy – Page 118

Fat molecules serve as energy storage for fat cells. They consist of three fatty acids attached to a backbone of glycerol. They are therefore also called triglycerides. It has long been suspected that molecules do not remain unchanged during their storage period. Instead, they are regularly broken down and reassembled—a process called “triglyceride cycling.”

But is this assumption even true, and if so: What would that be good for? “Until now, there has been no real answer to these questions,” explains Prof. Dr. Christoph Thiele of the LIMES Institute at the University of Bonn. “It’s true that there has been indirect evidence of this permanent reconstruction for the past 50 years. However, direct evidence of this has so far been lacking.”

The problem: To prove that are broken down, and fatty acids modified and reincorporated into new molecules, one would need to track their transformation as they travel through the body. Yet there are thousands of different forms of triglycerides in each cell. Keeping track of individual fatty acids is therefore extremely difficult.

Read more | >

This could be the end of battery fires and protect battery supply from geopolitical risks.

Researchers at Texas A&M University in the U.S. have been exploring metal-free water-based battery electrodes that could one day be used for a wide range of applications, in place of the lithium-ion batteries popular today.

Lithium-ion batteries are at the core of the electrification of transportation that countries around the world are undertaking to reduce their carbon emissions. While the U.S. has ambitious plans to go shift to this cleaner way of transportation, it is also well aware of its shortcomings in this area.

Read more | >

Scientific literacy is based on the understanding that science is an ongoing human endeavor. It is a powerful instrument to understand the natural world and provides tools to augment scientific knowledge. It is the means by which a person can inquire, involve, discover, and draw meaningful inferences. A scientifically literate citizen is capable of evaluating different points of view based on appropriate evidence.

Learn more about the scientific method.

Every day, there are newspaper stories related to pharmaceuticals, energy needs, and the environment.

Read more | >

Camero-Tech, a firm based in Israel, has created a next-generation portable, high-performance imaging device that can actually “see” through walls. Called the Xaver 1,000, according to a press release from Camero-Tech, the company has now officially added this next-generation of the company’s product line.

Camero-Tech is a member of Samy Katsav Group (aka SK Group), and a world leader and pioneer in developing, producing, and marketing pulse-based UWB micro-power radar, like the Xaver 1000.

Read more | >

Some of the more well-known examples include retrievable and reusable rockets, retrieval at sea, mid-air retrieval, single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rockets, and kinetic launch systems.

In addition, there are also efforts to develop propulsion systems that do not rely on conventional propellants. This technology offers many advantages, including lower mass and improved energy efficiency, ultimately lowering costs.

On June 10, 2023, an all-electrical propulsion system for satellites (the IVO Quantum Drive) will fly to space for the first time. The system was built by North Dakota-based wireless power company IVO, Ltd. and will serve as a testbed for an alternative theory of inertia that could have applications for propulsion.

Read more | >

Using NASA’s Chandra spacecraft, an international team of astronomers has performed X-ray observations of the Cigar Galaxy. Results of the observational campaign, presented March 16 on the pre-print repository arXiv, deliver crucial information regarding diffuse emission from this galaxy.

Discovered in 1,774, Cigar Galaxy (Messier 82, or M82) is a located some 11.73 million away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a size of about 40,800 light years and is one of the closest starburst to Earth.

Observations of the Cigar Galaxy have found that it experiences a large-scale galactic wind at various wavelengths, for instance, in hard X-rays above a few keV. This superwind appears to be concentrated in the galaxy’s two high surface brightness regions or clumps, and is fueled by energy released by supernovae within the clumps that occur at a rate of about one every ten years. Previous Chandra studies of this galaxy have detected bright X-ray binaries that dominate the hard X-ray band and revealed that there is residual diffuse emission surrounding the starburst disk.

Read more | >

The unique radiation emitted by heated or electrified elements has been converted into sound, enabling us to hear the distinctive chord each element produces. Although the idea has been tried before, advances in technology have now made it possible for a far more complete and subtle sonification of the periodic table.

When elements are energized electrons can jump to higher energy levels. Eventually, they return to their ground state, releasing a photon in the process. The wavelength of the photon depends on the size of the energy gap between the excited state and the ground state – more energy produces higher frequency/shorter wavelength light.

The discovery of this fact has proven crucial for our understanding of the universe. We can identify the elements in a star billions of light-years away from the distinctive wavelengths it emits, known as its emission spectra. At the American Chemical Society’s Spring Conference over the weekend, the University of Indiana’s W. Walker Smith demonstrated the result if every element’s electromagnetic spectrum is converted to sound.

Read more | >