179449774
submission
alternative_right writes:
The existence of planets around other stars was only experimentally confirmed three decades ago; now there are more and more instruments designed specifically for the search. More than two-thirds of the confirmed exoplanets were found using the so-called transit method, which involves observing them as they pass in front of their star. More than 1.100 additional exoplanets were found using the radial velocity method, in which stars reveal their small companions through their own movements. NASA lists nine other methods, but together they have contributed only a few hundred exoplanets to the database.
According to the database, researchers also know the mass of one-third of the confirmed exoplanets, 102 of which are roughly comparable to Earth. In addition, over 500 exoplanets are about the size of Earth, and the radius is known for almost 4.500 celestial bodies. This and much more data can be found in NASA's "Exoplanet Archive," which is maintained by the Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology. According to NASA, the rate at which the number of confirmed exoplanets is growing has recently accelerated, with the 5.000 mark only being exceeded at the beginning of 2022. Future instruments are likely to cause the number to rise even faster.
179440268
submission
BrendaEM writes:
LibreOffice writer is a great word processor. Its menus are coherent. It suffer from suffers from less inline style-corruption than Word. Its files are lossless compressed to save on disk space--allowing you to save more often, but as download and installed, there seems to be no functioning grammar checker. I will not write for all writers, but I have no trust for anything touched by unchecked AI. I just want things like double space checking, punctuation, and that kind of thing, grammar checking before large companies lined up to steal your content. While grammar checking extensions are available, most are touched by AI, or require additional Java. So, why is no included grammar checking in LibreOffice?
179439178
submission
theodp writes:
Over at the Communications of the ACM, Bard College CS Prof Valerie Barr explains why she's Feeling Cranky About AI and CS Education. Having seen CS education go through a number of we-have-to-teach-this moments over the decades — introductory programming languages, the Web, Data Science, etc. — Barr turns her attention to the next hand-wringing "what will we do" CS education moment with AI.
"We're jumping through hoops without stopping first to question the run-away train," Barr writes. "In much discussion about CS education:
a.) There’s little interest in interrogating the downsides of generative AI, such as the environmental impact, the data theft impact, the treatment and exploitation of data workers.
b.) There’s little interest in considering the extent to which, by incorporating generative AI into our teaching, we end up supporting a handful of companies that are burning billions in a vain attempt to each achieve performance that is a scintilla better than everyone else’s.
c.) There’s little interest in thinking about what’s going to happen when the LLM companies decide that they have plateaued, that there’s no more money to burn/spend, and a bunch of them fold—but we’ve perturbed education to such an extent that our students can no longer function without their AI helpers."
Barr calls for stepping back from "the industry assertion that the ship has sailed, every student needs to use AI early and often, and there is no future application that isn’t going to use AI in some way" and instead thoughtfully "articulate what sort of future problem solvers and software developers we want to graduate from our programs, and determine ways in which the incorporation of AI can help us get there."
179438872
submission
fahrbot-bot writes:
In a lab in Turku, Finland, scientists have found a surprising ally in the fight for sustainable solar energy: the papery red skin of an onion.
Researchers from the University of Turku, in collaboration with Aalto University and Wageningen University, have developed a bio-based UV protection film for solar cells that not only blocks nearly all harmful ultraviolet light but also outperforms commercial plastic films. The key ingredient is a water extract made from red onion skins.
Sunlight can degrade the delicate components in solar panels—particularly the electrolyte inside dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), a type known for their flexibility and low-light performance. To mitigate this, manufacturers typically wrap cells in UV-protective films made from petroleum-based plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET). But these plastics degrade over time and are difficult to recycle.
Seeking a greener alternative, the team turned to nanocellulose, a renewable material derived from wood pulp. Nanocellulose can be processed into thin, transparent films that serve as the perfect substrate for UV-blocking compounds.
Their breakthrough came when they dyed these films using an extract from red onion skins, a common kitchen waste. The result was a filter that blocked 99.9% of UV radiation up to 400 nanometers, a feat that outstripped even the PET-based commercial filters chosen for comparison.
In solar cells, preserving visible and near-infrared light is crucial. That’s the part of the spectrum that powers electricity generation. And here, too, the onion-treated filter excelled: it let through over 80% of light in the 650–1,100 nm range—an ideal sweet spot for energy absorption.
Testing under 1,000 hours of artificial sunlight, the CNF-ROE film—short for cellulose nanofiber with red onion extract—held up remarkably well. It exhibited only minor discoloration and preserved the yellow hue of the electrolyte far better than any other filter. Even predictive modeling based on early degradation trends suggested the CNF-ROE filter could extend a solar cell’s lifetime to roughly 8,500 hours. The PET-based filter? Just 1,500 hours.
Google: red onions solar panels
179438154
submission
alternative_right writes:
Media moguls Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and tech entrepreneur Michael Dell are expected to be among the U.S. investors who will be part of the potential deal for TikTok, President Trump said on Sunday.
179429166
submission
Qbertino writes:
German public news outlet Tagesschau has a video report on the progress of the world's tallest Wind Turbine that is due next summer. The Turbine will have roughly 2x the capacity of regular wind turbines and is planned as a proof of concept for accessing an additional layer of wind for energy and 3x-ing the output of existing wind farm zones by upgrading them with additional extra tall turbines.
