Lifeboat Foundation

JILA researchers have developed tools to “turn on” quantum gases of ultracold molecules, gaining control of long-distance molecular interactions for potential applications such as encoding data for quantum computing and simulations.

The new scheme for nudging a molecular gas down to its lowest energy state, called quantum degeneracy, while suppressing chemical reactions that break up molecules finally makes it possible to explore exotic quantum states in which all the molecules interact with one another.

The research is described in the Dec. 10 issue of Nature. JILA is a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Lifeboat Foundation congratulates Guardian Award Winner Elon Musk and SpaceX on their latest accomplishment with the Starship, the world’s first reusable space vehicle. The Starship will transform our world, starting with making Starlink the first non-bankrupt LEO constellation, later bringing us to the Moon and then hopefully Mars.

We recommend that NASA redirect their funds from the dead-end SLS system towards Starship. Even if NASA continues to waste tens of billions of dollars on SLS, it is unlikely that it will ever do more than a handful of launches as the low-cost Starship program makes it obsolete.

Also, here’s an appeal to Guardian Award Winner Elon Musk:

Continue reading “Lifeboat Foundation congratulates SpaceX on its successful SN8 Launch!” »

Boston Dynamics Atlas robot.

Hyundai Motor will acquire Boston Dynamics. The acquisition will be finalized at Hyundai’s December 10 board meeting. News about the deal was first reported by The Korea Economic Daily, which said the deal is for $921 million (1 trillion won). The Robot Report has also confirmed the news with a source familiar with the deal. The source said the acquisition is for about $1 billion.

Continue reading “Hyundai to acquire Boston Dynamics for nearly $1B” »

The observation of a chemical reaction at the molecular level in real time is a central theme in experimental chemical physics. An international research team has captured roaming molecular fragments for the first time. The work, under the supervision of Heide Ibrahim, research associate at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), was published in the journal Science.

The research group of the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre of INRS, with support of Professor François Légaré, has used the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS). They have succeeded in shooting the first molecular film of “roamers”—hydrogen fragments, in this case—that orbit around HCO fragments) during a chemical reaction by studying the photo-dissociation of formaldehyde, H₂CO.

For decades, one material has so dominated the production of computer chips and transistors that the tech capital of the world—Silicon Valley—bears its name. But silicon’s reign may not last forever.

MIT researchers have found that an alloy called InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) could hold the potential for smaller and more energy efficient transistors. Previously, researchers thought that the performance of InGaAs transistors deteriorated at small scales. But the new study shows this apparent deterioration is not an intrinsic property of the material itself.

The finding could one day help push computing power and efficiency beyond what’s possible with silicon. “We’re really excited,” said Xiaowei Cai, the study’s lead author. “We hope this result will encourage the community to continue exploring the use of InGaAs as a channel material for transistors.”

CentOS is becoming a rolling Linux distribution, which leaves businesses depending on CentOS for a stable server or embedded operating system in the lurch.

Elon Musk hopes to send first humans to Mars aboard a Starship craft within the next four years.

Ever wondered if your urine could help with food security in Africa? We go to Malawi this week to hear how a ‘magic liquid’ is helping farmers cope with the high cost of synthetic fertilisers, while keeping the marketplaces cleaner and smelling fresher.

In this gold rush, space is still a high-risk business, no matter how you slice it.