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Submission + - NASA's Curiosity rover finds organic matter on Mars (cnn.com)

Submitted by drdread66
drdread66 writes: Organic matter has been found on Mars in soil samples taken from 3 billion-year-old mudstone in the Gale crater by the Curiosity rover, NASA announced Thursday. The rover has also detected methane in the Martian atmosphere.

The search for life outside Earth focuses on the building blocks of life as we know it, which includes organic compounds and molecules — although these can exist without life. Organic matter can be one of several things: a record detailing ancient life, a food source for life or something that exists in the place of life.

Submission + - A Company Has Brought Cost Of Capturing 1 Tonne Of CO2 Down To 100 Dollars (bbc.com)

Submitted by OpenSourceAllTheWay
OpenSourceAllTheWay writes: A Canadian company, backed by Bill Gates, says it has reached an important threshold in developing technology that can remove CO2 from the air. Carbon Engineering has published a peer-reviewed study ( https://www.cell.com/joule/ful... ) showing that they can capture carbon for under $100 a tonne. This would be a major advance on the current price of around $600 per tonne. The company says their immediate goal is to produce synthetic liquid fuels made from carbon and renewable energy. The process works by sucking air into a modified cooling tower with fans, where it comes into contact with a liquid that reacts with the CO2. After several processing steps, a purer stream of CO2 is extracted and the capturing liquid is returned to the air contactor.

A previous study carried out by the American Physical Society in 2011 suggested that the cost per tonne of direct air capture would be around $600. But Carbon Engineering say that by adapting existing technologies they have been able to slash this significantly. "This is a real step forward, and it's not just our company saying it," Prof David Keith from Harvard University, and a founder of Carbon Engineering told BBC News. "I hope this changes views about this technology from being this thing which people think is a magic saviour which it isn't, or that it is absurdly expensive which it isn't, to an industrial technology that is do-able and can be developed in a useful way." Prof Keith's "useful way" is not to simply suck carbon out of the air but to use the extracted gas as a key raw material for synthetic liquid fuel. The company is currently making around one barrel a day by combining the pure CO2 with hydrogen derived from water, using renewable energy.

Submission + - Sucking CO2 From Air Is Cheaper Than Scientists Thought (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: While avoiding the worst dangers of climate change will likely require sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky, prominent scientists have long dismissed such technologies as far too expensive. But a detailed new analysis published today in the journal Joule finds that direct air capture may be practical after all. The study concludes it would cost between $94 and $232 per ton of captured carbon dioxide, if existing technologies were implemented on a commercial scale. One earlier estimate, published in Proceedings of the National Academies, put that figure at more than $1,000 (though the calculations were made on what’s known as an avoided-cost basis, which would add about 10 percent to the new study’s figures). Crucially, the lowest-cost design, optimized to produce and sell alternative fuels made from the captured carbon dioxide, could already be profitable with existing public policies in certain markets. The higher cost estimates are for plants that would deliver compressed carbon dioxide for permanent underground storage.

Submission + - Zuckerberg's appearance in front of the EU was an utter joke (betanews.com)

Submitted by Mark Wilson
Mark Wilson writes: Yesterday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared in front of members of the European Parliament to answer questions and to address concerns that the EU has about the social network in general, and its use of private data in particular — thanks largely to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

At least that was the idea. What actually happened was nothing short of a farce, with Zuckerberg smugly sitting back and choosing which questions to answer, neatly avoiding any he was uncomfortable with. It was little more than a PR-cum-damage-limitation exercise for the Facebook founder... and it didn't really go very well.

Submission + - SPAM: US Dept of Education Uses Trump's Salary to Fund Girls-Only STEM Camp

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Last summer, President Trump donated his 2017Q2 salary to the Department of Education, which Education Secretary Betsy DeVos explained would be used to fund a camp to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers. "Today’s and tomorrow’s economy requires engaged students, boys and girls, are prepared for STEM careers," DeVos said at a White House press briefing, flanked by giant $100K checks (YouTube). "That’s why we have decided to use the President’s 2nd quarter salary to host a STEM-focused camp for students at the Department of Education. We want to encourage as many children as possible to explore STEM fields in the hope that many develop a passion for these fields. We look forward to this exciting endeavor. Again, thank you to President Trump for this generous gift." On Tuesday, the U.S. Dept. of Education announced it has partnered with the Smithsonian's National Air Space Museum and decided to use the $100,000 Trump windfall to launch the She Can Summer Camp, which will be open to sixth through eighth grade girls. "I'd like to thank the President for donating his salary to the Department, which enabled us to partner with the Smithsonian and double the amount of girls that could be a part of this life-changing experience," said DeVos. "We know early exposure to the STEM fields helps set students on a strong trajectory. This Camp will encourage girls to seek out future professions in STEM and aviation, and empower them to never stop reaching for the stars." Applications are being accepted until June 18 for the camp’s 60 total slots.

Submission + - Weird new form of nuclear matter might lie just beyond experimenters' grasp (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Within a neutron star—the remains of an exploded, middle-weight star—pressures climb a billion billion times higher than in the sun’s core. For decades, some theoretical physicists have speculated that under those conditions, a bizarre type of matter might emerge: a soup of the subatomic particles called quarks. Now, a new analysis indicates the recipe for that soup, called cold quark matter, needs revision. If correct, it suggests that particle accelerators on Earth might be able to produce stable bits of the quark matter. It also would put the kibosh on hypothetical particles called strangelets, which fearmongers once claimed could destroy the world.

Submission + - Tesla plans to triple energy storage business in 2018 (cleantechnica.com)

Submitted by Paige.Bennett
Paige.Bennett writes: In Tesla's Q1 earnings letter, the company restated its goal to triple its energy storage business this year. The letter reads: “In Q1, energy storage deployments grew 161% from Q4 2017 to 373 MWh, which includes the 129 MWh South Australia project that was installed last year with final commercial transfer occurring in Q1."

Submission + - SPAM: Facebook Advertising vs. Google Adwords

Submitted by info2ndline
info2ndline writes: With the rising popularity of social media, advertising through traditional channels like television, radio and newspaper has been systematically replaced with online advertising. As a cheap marketing method with the ability to reach more people than traditional outlets, online advertising has particularly become popular amongst startups and small businesses.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SPAM: GDC Coin- Best Time For Investment In Cryptocurrency For Bright Future

Submitted by gdccoin
gdccoin writes: GDC Coin is a digital currency that is increasing much acclaim in the finance market. The cryptocurrency is hitting on the news all over the worldwide. How is this currency unique? Is presently the best time to purchase GDC Coin? Most likely, truly, the cash will gives the general population the cash control specialist, and denies the running government the same. The significant motivation to buy this currency is that it is new in the market. The currency project an incredible augmentation in esteem sooner rather than later. In the event that you put resources into this field now, you will tear a hundred times in future. A businessman hazards, this is an Ideal chance to contribute on, stand the shot of getting to be wealthier. This coin a venture esteem that is the reason the vast majority are in for this money. The trade rates are positive contrasted with other fiat monetary currencies.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - GCC 8.1 Compiler Introduces Initial C++20 Support (gnu.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: GNU has released the GCC 8.1 compiler with initial support for the C++20 (C++2A) revision of C++ currently under development. This annual update to the GNU Compiler Collection also comes with many other new features/improvements including but not limited to new ARM CPU support, support for next-generation Intel CPUs, AMD HSA IL, and initial work on Fortran 2018 support.

Submission + - Flat-Earthers Latest Theory Claims Gravity Isn't Real And The Big Bang Is Fake (valuewalk.com) 4

Submitted by Rick Schumann
Rick Schumann writes: The 'Flat Earth Society', well-known for their diametric opposition to what most regard as scientific fact (vis-a-vis, Moon landings were faked), have come out with an even more fantastic claim: That gravity itself is not real, and that the actual force that hold us to our allegedly flat world is electromagnetism.
(Submitters' note: I'm posting this so we all have something to chuckle at today. Way too much serious stuff in the news lately. Have a laugh on me; you're welcome!)

Submission + - Calcium-Based MRI Sensor Enables More Sensitive Brain Imaging (mit.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: MIT neuroscientists have developed a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sensor that allows them to monitor neural activity deep within the brain by tracking calcium ions. Because calcium ions are directly linked to neuronal firing — unlike the changes in blood flow detected by other types of MRI, which provide an indirect signal — this new type of sensing could allow researchers to link specific brain functions to their pattern of neuron activity, and to determine how distant brain regions communicate with each other during particular tasks. In tests in rats, the researchers showed that their calcium sensor can accurately detect changes in neural activity induced by chemical or electrical stimulation, deep within a part of the brain called the striatum.

The new sensor consists of two types of particles that cluster together in the presence of calcium. One is a naturally occurring calcium-binding protein called synaptotagmin, and the other is a magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle coated in a lipid that can also bind to synaptotagmin, but only when calcium is present. Calcium binding induces these particles to clump together, making them appear darker in an MRI image. High levels of calcium outside the neurons correlate with low neuron activity; when calcium concentrations drop, it means neurons in that area are firing electrical impulses. The current version of the sensor responds within a few seconds of the initial brain stimulation, but the researchers are working on speeding that up. They are also trying to modify the sensor so that it can spread throughout a larger region of the brain and pass through the blood-brain barrier, which would make it possible to deliver the particles without injecting them directly to the test site.

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