Astronomy

10 Tips to Mitigate 'Ring of Fire' Eclipse Impact on Solar Power

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Solar eclipses pose a significant challenge to solar power generation, as the decrease in irradiance directly affects the output of solar energy systems.

Key Points: 
  • Solar eclipses pose a significant challenge to solar power generation, as the decrease in irradiance directly affects the output of solar energy systems.
  • As the eclipse progresses, solar generation declines in proportion to the impact on irradiance, creating a temporary shortfall in power production.
  • As a key player in the PV industry, Qn-SOLAR has summarized 11 key takeaways to reduce the impact on solar power generation.
  • A diverse energy structure with wind power, hydroelectric power, and thermal power can offset the decrease in solar power generation during an eclipse.

Laser Research Optics Introduces Zinc Selenide Lenses that Feature Long Focal Lengths

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 10, 2023

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Laser Research Optics has introduced a line of Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) lenses that feature long focal lengths for use in various industrial, optical, and scientific applications where the precise control of light and long-distance focusing are required.

Key Points: 
  • A line of Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) lenses that feature long focal lengths for use in various industrial, optical, and scientific applications where the precise control of light and long-distance focusing are required is being introduced by Laser Research Optics.
  • PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Laser Research Optics has introduced a line of Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) lenses that feature long focal lengths for use in various industrial, optical, and scientific applications where the precise control of light and long-distance focusing are required.
  • Laser Research ZnSe lenses are well suited for a wide range of applications requiring the precise control of light and where long-distance focusing is necessary.
  • Laser Research ZnSe Plano-Convex Lenses feature 500 mm to 1000 mm focal lengths and come in sizes from 1" to 2" O.D.

Guidehouse Insights Estimates Global Market for Light Pollution Minimizing Luminaires Will Grow to More Than $627 Million by 2032

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report from Guidehouse Insights examines the global market for light pollution-minimizing luminaires.

Key Points: 
  • The proliferation of outdoor LED lighting is contributing to rapid increases in light pollution around the world, but luminaires can be designed to minimize the light pollution arising from outdoor illumination.
  • However, the market for light pollution minimizing luminaires is nascent, and numerous challenges must be overcome before widespread adoption of these luminaires can be expected.
  • The report, Light Pollution Minimizing Luminaires , analyzes the global market for light pollution minimizing luminaires for five outdoor lighting applications: city parks and public areas, commercial and industrial site lighting, parking, residential exterior, and roads.
  • The report discusses market drivers and barriers and issues recommendations to industry stakeholders for increasing adoption of light pollution minimizing luminaires.

Tenacious curiosity in the lab can lead to a Nobel Prize – mRNA research exemplifies the unpredictable value of basic scientific research

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

The 2023 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine will go to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discovery that modifying mRNA – a form of genetic material your body uses to produce proteins – could reduce unwanted inflammatory responses and allow it to be delivered into cells.

Key Points: 
  • The 2023 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine will go to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discovery that modifying mRNA – a form of genetic material your body uses to produce proteins – could reduce unwanted inflammatory responses and allow it to be delivered into cells.
  • We asked André O. Hudson, a biochemist and microbiologist at the Rochester Institute of Technology, to explain how basic research like that of this year’s Nobel Prize winners provides the foundations for science – even when its far-reaching effects won’t be felt until years later.

What is basic science?

    • Basic research, sometimes called fundamental research, is a type of investigation with the overarching goal of understanding natural phenomena like how cells work or how birds can fly.
    • Researchers sometimes conduct basic research with the hope of eventually developing a technology or drug based on that work.

What are some basic science discoveries that went on to have a big influence on medicine?

    • The 2023 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine acknowledges basic science work done in the early 2000s.
    • Another example is the discovery of antibiotics, which was based on an unexpected observation.
    • Early discoveries start from a basic observation, asking the simple question of “How?” Only later are they parlayed into a medical technology that helps humanity.

Why does it take so long to get from curiosity-driven basic science to a new product or technology?

    • The mRNA modification discovery could be considered to be on a relatively fast track from basic science to application.
    • The importance of their discovery came to the forefront with the pandemic and the millions of lives they saved.
    • Most basic research won’t reach the market until several decades after its initial publication in a science journal.
    • Likewise, because the return on investment for basic research often isn’t clear, it can be a hard sell to support financially.

Why is basic science important?

    • For me, the most critical reason is that basic research is how we train and mentor future scientists.
    • In an academic setting, telling students “Let’s go develop an mRNA vaccine” versus “How does mRNA work in the body” influences how they approach science.
    • Almost every scientist is trained under a basic research umbrella of how to ask questions and go through the scientific method.

What is a common misconception about basic science?

    • In the short term, the worth of basic research can be hard to see.
    • But in the long term, history has shown that a lot of what we take for granted now, such as common medical equipment like X-rays, lasers and MRIs, came from basic things people discovered in the lab.
    • As long as curiosity is a part of humanity, we’re always going to be seeking answers.

The Way of the Ancestors and how it can help us hear The Voice

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

The book opens a window into the private Aboriginal world of law, justice and politics.

Key Points: 
  • The book opens a window into the private Aboriginal world of law, justice and politics.
  • But the thrust of The Way of the Ancestors goes deeper into the law governing human relationships, authority, justice, reconciliation, and the settling of grievances (Makarrata).
  • Already published are those on Songlines, Design, Country, Astronomy and Plants, with an edition on Innovation to be released shortly.
  • Indeed, for the first time the outside world is permitted to glimpse the deep concepts, practices, and emotions of a way of living that sustained 2000 generations.

Building ‘moral muscle’

    • The colonisers’ common law, while containing provisions respecting individual rights, was largely intended to protect property and good order.
    • The constitution they constructed for Federation, explicitly excluded First Peoples, along with Chinese and other non-Europeans, from citizenship.
    • Indigenous law’s purpose is not to protect the wealth, power, and property of the leadership class.
    • The capital of Indigenous society is intellectual and moral, not material, and the law is about proper behaviour towards other people and the natural world.
    • Indigenous Law has evolved to ensure the wellbeing of the society by building the inner wellbeing of individuals and collective wellbeing.
    • The Yolungu see this as the building of “moral muscle”.

Managing emotions

    • Central to traditional life is learning to manage emotions, feelings that can be both productive and hideously destructive.
    • One strategy is the use of Pitjantjatjara/English fridge magnets containing the words for around 50 emotions in both languages.
    • Senior women had observed that young people, especially young males, could not express their emotions in either their own language or in English.

SCHOTT TOPPAC® freeze Wins Pharma Innovation Award

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 2, 2023

SCHOTT, the international technology group and inventor of specialty glass, was among the winners of the Pharma Innovation Award for its SCHOTT TOPPAC® freeze prefillable polymer syringes.

Key Points: 
  • SCHOTT, the international technology group and inventor of specialty glass, was among the winners of the Pharma Innovation Award for its SCHOTT TOPPAC® freeze prefillable polymer syringes.
  • Pharma Manufacturing bestowed the honor for SCHOTT TOPPAC® freeze’s trailblazing solution to protecting deep-cold medications at temperatures approaching -100°C.
  • “Winning the Pharma Innovation Award is an important accolade for our syringe that is changing the drug development pipeline in its first year,” said Patrick Gallagher, Vice President and Head of Polymer Solutions at SCHOTT Pharma.
  • SCHOTT TOPPAC® freeze is another example of how SCHOTT puts patients first by making drug delivery safe, easy, and real.

Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance: Germany-Based mtex Brings Investments in Technology, Engineering, Machining to Albuquerque

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 29, 2023

Those attending included Mark Roper, New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) Economic Division Director and City of Albuquerque Economic Development Director Max Gruner, both of whom have been instrumental in recruiting mtex to New Mexico.

Key Points: 
  • Those attending included Mark Roper, New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) Economic Division Director and City of Albuquerque Economic Development Director Max Gruner, both of whom have been instrumental in recruiting mtex to New Mexico.
  • The company plans to invest $16 million into its Albuquerque facility at the Sandia Science and Technology Park.
  • “The greater Albuquerque region is paving the way to becoming a top location for innovation industry investment,” said Danielle Casey, President & CEO of the Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance (AREA).
  • The new mtex facility in Albuquerque will also play a major role for the integration and testing of these new submm Telescopes.

A search for links between two of the universe's most spectacular phenomena has come up empty – for now

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, September 28, 2023

The origin of these “fast radio bursts” is one of the greatest mysteries in astronomy today.

Key Points: 
  • The origin of these “fast radio bursts” is one of the greatest mysteries in astronomy today.
  • You can take your pick from highly magnetised neutron stars, collisions of incredibly dense stars or many more extreme or exotic phenomena.

Gravitational wave astronomy

    • Gravitational waves are different: they pass straight through matter, so nothing can really get in their way.
    • We also have reason to think fast radio bursts may produce gravitational wave signals.

What produces fast radio bursts?

    • Some fast radio bursts have been seen to repeat, but most are seen as single events.
    • For the repeating bursts, a recent simultaneous observation of x-rays and a radio burst from a highly magnetised neutron star in our own Milky Way galaxy proves this type of star can produce fast radio bursts.

The CHIME radio telescope

    • To look for new evidence on what causes fast radio bursts I co-led a targeted search using fast radio bursts detected by a radio telescope called CHIME in Canada.
    • As the CHIME/FRB project has detected hundreds of fast radio bursts, there’s a good chance of catching one close enough to Earth to be observed by a gravitational wave telescope.
    • We looked for gravitational wave signals around the sky position of each non-repeating fast radio burst around the time each occurred.

What did we find out?

    • It was not such a surprise, as we think fast radio bursts are much more common than detectable gravitational wave signals.
    • In other words, gravitational wave sources would only account for a small fraction of fast radio bursts.

What next?

    • Gravitational wave detectors have become more sensitive than when we conducted this search, and will continue to improve in the coming years.
    • We are also targeting future fast radio bursts from the known repeating source in our own galaxy mentioned above.

There's Moore to come: SCHOTT strengthens glass substrate portfolio, allowing advanced semiconductor packaging for the age of AI

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 27, 2023

As uncompromised, high-quality glass substrates are crucial for enabling advanced packaging in the upcoming decade, SCHOTT is proactively setting the course to enable the industry to innovate even further.

Key Points: 
  • As uncompromised, high-quality glass substrates are crucial for enabling advanced packaging in the upcoming decade, SCHOTT is proactively setting the course to enable the industry to innovate even further.
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230927430641/en/
    SCHOTT offers a diverse variety of panel glass and carrier wafers for advanced semiconductor packaging and processing.
  • “Today, we are announcing a three-point action plan to tackle the increasing demand for glass substrates for advanced packaging.
  • Additionally, unique substrates that are tailor-made for diverse applications in advanced chip packaging have entered the final stage of market-readiness.

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s Final Mirror Fabrication Begins

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 26, 2023

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Giant Magellan Telescope begins the four-year process to fabricate and polish its seventh and final primary mirror, the last required to complete the telescope’s 368 square meter light collecting surface, the world’s largest and most challenging optics ever produced.

Key Points: 
  • PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Giant Magellan Telescope begins the four-year process to fabricate and polish its seventh and final primary mirror, the last required to complete the telescope’s 368 square meter light collecting surface, the world’s largest and most challenging optics ever produced.
  • “We are thrilled to be closing in on another milestone in the fabrication of the Giant Magellan Telescope.”
    The most recently completed primary mirror is ready for integration into a giant support system prototype early next year for final optical performance testing.
  • The Giant Magellan Telescope will be the first extremely large telescope to complete its primary mirror array.
  • “We are in an important stage of fabrication, with much of the manufacturing happening in the United States,” shares Robert Shelton, President of the Giant Magellan Telescope.