Shining a light on the true value of solar power

Value estimations for grid-tied photovoltaic systems prove solar panels are beneficial for utility companies and consumers alike.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-true-solar-power.html

Banning disruptive online groups is a game of Whac-a-Mole that web giants just won't win

From Washington, D.C., to Wall Street, 2021 has already seen online groups causing major organised offline disruption. Some of it has been in violation of national laws, some in violation of internet platforms' terms of service. When these groups are seen to cause societal harm, the solution has been knee-jerk: to ban or "deplatform" those groups immediately, leaving them digitally "homeless."

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-disruptive-online-groups-game-whac-a-mole.html

Personal data, fodder for cyberwarfare? New models for stepping up cybersecurity

In today's increasingly digital world, cybersecurity is paramount. The upsurge in cyberattacks has far-reaching effects, from jeopardizing users' private data to sparking all out cyberwar, not to mention threatening private businesses' intellectual property. In such volatile times, the only approach is to adopt new models and applications that can address these problems efficiently.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-personal-fodder-cyberwarfare-cybersecurity.html

Design of a nanometric structure that improves solar cell efficiency

Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have developed a new nanometric structure that can cover the surface of some silicon solar panels and improve their performance by up to 40%. This design could be applied to future solar installations to achieve a better energy efficiency.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-nanometric-solar-cell-efficiency.html

China blocks Clubhouse app that gave rare access to uncensored topics

A rare uncensored app that had attracted Chinese internet users to freely discuss taboo topics, including the mass detention of Uighurs, democracy protests in Hong Kong and the concept of Taiwanese independence appeared to have been blocked on Monday night.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-clubhouse-app-chinese-rare-access.html

Hyundai, Kia deny Apple car talks, sending shares tumbling

South Korean automaker Hyundai and its affiliate Kia on Monday denied news reports they were in talks with Apple for a joint project to make autonomous vehicles, sending their shares tumbling.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-hyundai-kia-deny-apple-car.html

Kuaishou: China's $160 bn livestreaming app for 'ordinary people'

On Lu Kaigang's feed, sheets of tarp are transformed into haute couture as China's mountainous backdrop becomes his catwalk, a 22-year-old villager sashaying to fame via a video-sharing app for the everyman—Kuaishou.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-kuaishou-china-bn-livestreaming-app.html

Google moves away from diet of 'cookies' to track users

Google is weaning itself off user-tracking "cookies" which allow the web giant to deliver personalized ads but which also have raised the hackles of privacy defenders.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-google-diet-cookies-track-users.html

Samsung eyes Texas for chip-making plant

Electronics giant Samsung is considering the US state of Texas as a possible location for a new $17 billion chip-making plant, according to filings with state officials.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-samsung-eyes-texas-chip-making.html

Coal and COVID-19: How the pandemic is accelerating the end of fossil power generation

COVID-19 has not only caused a temporary drop in global CO2 emissions, it has also reduced the share of power generated by burning coal—a trend that could, in fact, outlast the pandemic. This is the key result of a new study by a team of economists based in Potsdam and Berlin that looked at COVID-19's impact on the energy system and demand for electricity. Their findings show that the pandemic, while putting a terrible toll on people's lives and the economy, has also opened a window of opportunity to make this current trend of decreasing coal use irreversible: Supported by the right climate policy measures, power sector emissions could decline more rapidly than previously thought.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-coal-covid-pandemic-fossil-power.html

Recognizing liars from the sound of their voice

Faster speech rate, greater intensity in the middle of the word, and falling pitch at the end of the word: That is the prosody to adopt if one wants to come across as reliable and honest to one's listeners.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-liars-voice.html

Half of global wastewater treated, rates in developing countries still lagging

A new study by scientists at Utrecht University and the United Nations University concludes that about half of global wastewater is treated, rather than the previous estimate of 20%. Despite this promising finding, the authors warn that treatment rates in developing countries are still very low. The study and its dataset were published Open Access in the journal Earth System Science Data.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-global-wastewater-countries-lagging.html

Wearable plasmonic-metasurface sensor for universal molecular fingerprint detection on biointerfaces

Wearable sensing technology is an essential link in personalized medicine, where researchers must track multiple analytes inside the body simultaneously, to obtain a complete picture of human health. In a new report on Science Advances, Yingli Wang and a team of scientists in biosystems, engineering and information science at the University of Cambridge and Zhejiang University in the U.K. and China, presented a wearable plasmonic-electronic sensor with "universal" molecular recognition capability. The team introduced flexible plasmonic metasurfaces with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity as the fundamental sensing component. The system contained a flexible sweat extraction process to noninvasively extract and fingerprint analytes inside the body based on their unique Raman scattering spectra. As proof of concept, they successfully monitored varying trace-drug amounts inside the body to obtain an individual drug metabolic profile. The sensor bridged the gap in wearable sensing technology to provide a universal, sensitive molecular tracking process to assess human health.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-wearable-plasmonic-metasurface-sensor-universal-molecular.html

Modelling HIV fusion

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has used robust computer simulations to understand how HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, fuses with the host cell membrane. Published in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, the study focuses on a process called gp41–mediated membrane fusion.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-hiv-fusion.html

Researchers create low-cost, AI-powered device to measure optical spectra

A team of researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has demonstrated a new approach to an old problem: measuring spectra of light, also known as spectroscopy. By leveraging scalable, cost-effective nano-fabrication techniques, as well as AI-driven algorithms, they built and tested a system that is more compact than conventional spectrometers, while also offering additional design advantages.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-low-cost-ai-powered-device-optical-spectra.html

Scientists create armour for fragile quantum technology

An international team of scientists has invented the equivalent of body armour for extremely fragile quantum systems, which will make them robust enough to be used as the basis for a new generation of low-energy electronics.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-scientists-armour-fragile-quantum-technology.html

Neutrinos, atomic clocks and an experiment to detect a time dilation

Griffith University researchers are conducting an experiment at ANSTO that will test a revolutionary physics theory that time reversal symmetry-breaking by neutrinos might cause a time dilation at the quantum scale.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-neutrinos-atomic-clocks-dilation.html

A steady DRIP with NASA satellites

When drought hits the Horn of Africa, it's a threat to lives and livelihoods. Communities need access to water for sanitation, hydration, livestock and agriculture – and in many cases, tapping groundwater supplies is the difference between a "drought" and a "drought emergency." But maintaining the thousands of groundwater pumps that supply fresh water to drought-prone areas in east Africa is a significant challenge. NASA satellite data helps the people who maintain this crucial infrastructure by highlighting the places most at-risk for drought and informing early warning actions to prevent the worst drought impacts on local communities.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-steady-nasa-satellites.html

Image: Hubble sees a stellar furnace

An orange glow radiates from the center of NGC 1792, the heart of this stellar furnace. Captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, this intimate view of NGC 1792 gives us some insight into this galactic powerhouse. The vast swathes of tell-tale blue seen throughout the galaxy indicate areas that are full of young, hot stars, and it is in the shades of orange, seen nearer the center, that the older, cooler stars reside.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-image-hubble-stellar-furnace.html

Newly developed material could lead to lighter, safer car designs

A new form of 3-D-printed material made by combining commonly-used plastics with carbon nanotubes is tougher and lighter than similar forms of aluminium, scientists say.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-newly-material-lighter-safer-car.html

Researchers advance simple and inexpensive diagnostic blood test

In diagnostic medicine, biopsies, where a sample of tissue is extracted for analysis, is a common tool for the detection of many conditions. But this approach has several drawbacks—it can be painful, doesn't always extract the diseased tissue, and can only be used in a sufficiently advanced disease stage, making it, in some cases, too late for intervention. These concerns have encouraged researchers to find less invasive and more accurate options for diagnoses.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-advance-simple-inexpensive-diagnostic-blood.html

CLOUD at CERN reveals the role of iodine acids in atmospheric aerosol formation

In a paper published today in the journal Science, the CLOUD collaboration at CERN shows that aerosol particles made of iodic acid can form extremely rapidly in the marine boundary layer—the portion of the atmosphere that is in direct contact with the ocean. Aerosol particles in the atmosphere affect the climate, both directly and indirectly, but how new aerosol particles form and influence clouds and climate remains relatively poorly understood. This is particularly true of particles that form over the vast ocean.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-cloud-cern-reveals-role-iodine.html

Dinosaur frills were likely the result of sexual selection

Why dinosaurs evolved such a huge diversity of crests and frills on their skulls has long been an enigma.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-dinosaur-frills-result-sexual.html

Researchers find peptide that treats, prevents killer citrus disease

New research affirms a unique peptide found in an Australian plant can destroy the No. 1 killer of citrus trees worldwide and help prevent infection.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-peptide-killer-citrus-disease.html

Clubhouse app gives Chinese rare access to uncensored topics

Chinese internet users are flocking to a rare uncensored app to breach the "Great Firewall" and freely discuss taboo topics, including the mass detention of Uighurs, democracy protests in Hong Kong and the concept of Taiwanese independence.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-clubhouse-app-chinese-rare-access.html

Hyundai, Kia deny Apple car talks, send shares tumbling

South Korean automaker Hyundai and its affiliate Kia on Monday denied news reports they were in talks with Apple for a joint project to make autonomous vehicles, sending their shares tumbling.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-hyundai-kia-deny-apple-car.html

2nd major snowstorm in a week blankets Northeast

Another major snowstorm hit the Northeast on Sunday, less than a week after a storm dumped as much as 2 feet on the region.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-2nd-major-snowstorm-week-blankets.html

Bolivia probes deaths of 35 endangered condors

Bolivian environmental authorities on Sunday announced an investigation into the apparent poisoning of 35 Andean condors in a rural community, one of the most devastating such cases for the endangered species.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-bolivia-probes-deaths-endangered-condors.html

Kuaishou: China's $160 bn livestreaming app for 'ordinary people'

On Lu Kaigang's feed, sheets of tarp are transformed into haute couture as China's mountainous backdrop becomes his catwalk, a 22-year-old villager sashaying to fame via a video-sharing app for the everyman—Kuaishou.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-kuaishou-china-bn-livestreaming-app.html

Heavy snowstorm pounds Germany, upends travel

A snowstorm and strong winds pounded northern and western Germany on Sunday, forcing trains to cancel trips and leading to hundreds of vehicle crashes. Police said 28 people were injured on icy roads.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-heavy-snowstorm-pounds-germany-upends.html

140 are missing after glacier breaks in India's Himalayas

Indian rescue crews struggled to reach trapped victims Sunday after part of a glacier in the Himalayas broke off and released a torrent of water and debris that slammed into two hydroelectric plants. At least nine people were killed and 140 were missing in a disaster experts said appeared to point to global warming.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-glacier-india-himalayas.html

Next stop Mars: 3 spacecraft arriving in quick succession

After hurtling hundreds of millions of miles through space since last summer, three robotic explorers are ready to hit the brakes at Mars.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-mars-spacecraft-quick-succession.html