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The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better
It is wrong to think these three statements contradict each other. We need to see that they are all true to see that a better world is possible.
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The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 2,418 posts.
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Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the first scroll
The 2000-year-old scroll discusses music, food, and how to enjoy life’s pleasures.
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Open source 3D atlas of human anatomy
In less than two years, 'Z-Anatomy' gathered more than 5.000 tridimensional anatomical structures and labels with more than 3500 definitions in two fully functional open source viewers. Available for free in 5 languages, it progressively becomes an open alternative to all the students, the Health Professional and the…
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The first amateur radio station on the moon
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
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Building an early warning system for LLM-aided biological threat creation
We’re developing a blueprint for evaluating the risk that a large language model (LLM) could aid someone in creating a biological threat. In an evaluation involving both biology experts and students, we found that GPT-4 provides at most a mild uplift in biological threat creation accuracy. While this uplift is not…
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Researchers demonstrate rapid 3D printing with liquid metal
Liquid metal printing, developed by MIT researchers, rapidly creates 3D metal structures by depositing molten aluminum along into a bed filled with microscopic glass beads. The process can produce low-resolution objects like frames for chairs and tables in minutes.
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The rise of batteries in six charts
The unstoppable rise of batteries is leading to a domino effect that puts half of global fossil fuel demand at risk.
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How the brain responds to reward is linked to socioeconomic background
The brain’s sensitivity to rewarding experiences — a critical factor in motivation and attention — can be shaped by socioeconomic conditions, according to an MIT study.
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Capturing the ripples of spacetime: LISA gets go-ahead
Today, ESA’s Science Programme Committee approved the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, the first scientific endeavour to detect and study gravitational waves from space.
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Battery-free self-powered sensor harvests magnetic energy
MIT researchers designed a self-powering, battery-free, energy-harvesting sensor. Using the framework they developed, they produced a temperature sensor that can harvest and store the energy from the magnetic field that exists in the open air around a wire.
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We have surpassed 6 of the 9 planetary boundaries that sustain human life (2023)
The planetary boundaries framework highlights the rising risks from human pressure on nine critical global processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth
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Fluorite lenses: Corrective capabilities beyond ordinary optical glass
Canon developed its own technology for forming large, high-purity artificial fluorite crystals using fluorite ore as a raw material.
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Bees have an internal sense of time (2022)
Did you know that bees can perceive time? Not even just simply tracking the Sun. Actual time measurements.
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Researchers trace a form of lupus back to a single mutation
Researchers were able to trace a form of the autoimmune disease lupus back to a single mutation
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John Michell: Country Parson Described Black Holes in 1783 (2000)
When a country parson first described black holes in 1783, the concept was so ahead of its time it was mostly ignored.
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Ancient Stars Made Extraordinarily Heavy Elements (2023)
How heavy can an element be? Ancient stars were capable of producing elements heavier than any element on the periodic table found naturally on Earth.
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Researchers Create First Functional Semiconductor Made from Graphene
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created the world’s first functional semiconductor made from graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms held together by the strongest bonds known. Semiconductors, which are materials that conduct electricity under specific conditions, are foundational components…
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Researchers discover physical cause of long Covid tiredness
Researchers from Amsterdam UMC and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) have discovered that the persistent fatigue in patients with long-COVID has a biological cause, namely mitochondria in muscle cells that produce less energy than in healthy patients. The results of the study were published today in Nature…
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AI and satellite imagery reveals expanding footprint of human activity at sea
Study reveals 75 percent of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are hidden from public view
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30cm worm fossil more than half a billion years old discovered in Greenland
Fossils of a new group of animal predators have been located in the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fossil locality in North Greenland. These large worms may be some of the earliest carnivorous animals to have colonised the water column more than 518 million years ago, revealing a past dynasty of predators that…
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Ants recognise infected wounds and treat them with antibiotics
The African Matabele ants are often injured in fights with termites. Their conspecifics recognise when the wounds become infected and initiate antibiotic treatment.
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Light-induced whole-molecule vibration can rupture melanoma cells’ membrane
Rice scientists and collaborators at Texas A&M University and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found a new way to kill cancer cells by using near-infrared light to make a small dye molecule attached to their membrane vibrate strongly. It is the first time this kind of mechanical molecular action has…
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Breakdown of faults by car brand: Tesla has replaced Dacia at the bottom
Minimised clearances, active hoods, new materials, new drive technologies – surely modern cars have reached their pinnacle?
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The Limits to Growth (1972)
The complete original Limits to Growth study is now freely accessible online, thanks to the Donella Meadows Institute and the Dartmouth College Library.
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Polymers capable of killing bacteria without inducing antibiotic resistance
Dr. Quentin Michaudel and his research team have created a new family of polymers capable of killing bacteria without inducing antibiotic resistance — a major step in the fight against superbugs.
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Leonardo Da Vinci’s Self-Powered Cart (2021)
A club for Meccano enthusiasts in London, holding four meetings each year and a public Meccano Show in Falconwood.
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ArXiv now offers papers in HTML format
arXiv’s goal is equitable access to scientific research for all – and to achieve this, we have been working to make research papers more accessible for arXiv…