Advanced Concepts Team

frightening ...

Trying the new rocket with humans right away (and 1.5 years to go). What can possibly go wrong? The Trump administration has directed NASA to study whether it is feasible to fly astronauts on the debut flight of the agency's heavy-lift rocket, a mission currently planned to be unmanned and targeted to launch in late 2018, officials said on Friday.

Strong evidence for d-electron spin transport at room temperature

WOW! Great non-local signals, at room temperature!!! Spin transistor on the way finally!? (of course electric field gate controlled is fundamental) See more about the "quest" for the spin transistor here: http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/processors/the-quest-for-the-spin-transistor

Self-destruct options from the Mission: Impossible movies could become a reality for even the most common smartphones and laptops used by government officials or corporate employees. A new self-destruct mechanism can destroy electronics within 10 seconds through wireless commands or the triggering of certain sensors. Just don't leave your computer sitting in the sun for long...

It is typically considered that brain's process of learning is highly energy efficient. While investigating how efficiently the brain can learn new information, physicists have found that, at the neuronal level, learning efficiency is ultimately limited by the laws of thermodynamics.

An excellent science coffee topic! This is a true breakthrough in pure mathematics with plentiful applications in the lesser sciences (such as theoretical physics). People tell me quantum gravity is already practically solved by this. Conway's powerful theory of Alternative Facts can render many difficult problems tractable. Here we demonstrate the power of AF to prove the Riemann Hypothesis, one of the most important unsolved problems in mathematics. We further suggest applications of AF to other challenging unsolved problems such as the zero-equals-one conjecture (which is also true) and the side-counting problem of the circle.

Combination of the radio occultation method plus change in the orbital plan in order to observe new target (the volcanic outgassing from Io satellite) by passing though the magnetosphere of Jupiter. It poses a challenge in the sensitivity of the electronics. Maybe it is accepted if the risk is low. Idea for the next GTOC challenge maybe? Optimising the cost on the electronics vs the frequency of passages?

A good electrical conductor is normally a good heat conductor. Vanadium dioxide however seems to not be so, by being a good electrical conductor and a poor thermal conductor. Paper at http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/371

The European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee voted in favour of a resolution calling for new laws addressing robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to be set out to sit alongside a new voluntary ethical conduct code that would apply to developers and designers.

For the first time, ultra-cold atoms interfere in space The MAIUS 1 experiment was launched on 23 January 2017 at 3:30 CET on board a sounding rocket from Esrange Space Center near Kiruna in northern Sweden. German scientists have, for the first time, succeeded in producing a Bose-Einstein condensate in space and using it for interferometry experiments.

At 8:33 a.m., (Japan Standard Time) January 15, 2017, SS-520 No. 4, JAXA's sounding rocket launched from the Uchinoura Space Center. Through SS-520 No. 4 launch, JAXA sought for research and development of launch vehicles and satellites and the launch demonstration of TRICOM-1, its onboard nanosat that weighs about 3 kilograms. The launch was part of Japanese government's program for development of launch vehicles and satellites in public-private partnerships. Long story short: Space-X has the better fireworks

Deepest X-ray Image Ever Reveals Black Hole Treasure Trove An unparalleled image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory gives astronomers the best look yet at the growth of black holes over billions of years beginning soon after the Big Bang.

A good DIY project - build a tractor beam using 3D printed parts. The 3D files and research are available for download. A new way for microgravity research @fichbio ?

Researchers at Tohoku University have, for the first time, successfully demonstrated the basic operation of spintronics-based artificial neural network.

The ALPHA collaboration reports the first ever measurement on the optical spectrum of an antimatter hydrogen atom. Optical transitions shown to be the same as for normal hydrogen. Paper at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaap/ncurrent/full/nature21040.html#affil-auth

Quantum mechanics PSA

First evidence for associative learning in plants ?

"University of Copenhagen fired seismologist Hans Thybo, president of the European Geosciences Union. The official explanation for Thybo's dismissal - his alleged use of private e-mail for work, and telling a postdoc that it is legitimate to openly criticize university management - seems petty in the extreme."

Materials exposed to a high-radiation environment such as the inside of a nuclear reactor vessel can gradually degrade and weaken. A new approach to allow assessment of radiation damage in materials, on real time!