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- 🔥 2023 summer hottest on record, scientists unveil Mission Impossible 4-inspired smart contact lenses, US tops supercomputer list
🔥 2023 summer hottest on record, scientists unveil Mission Impossible 4-inspired smart contact lenses, US tops supercomputer list
Plus: A new, Earth-sized planet detected just 55 light years away
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Researchers from Cambridge University and the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz conducted research sought to demonstrate the unique nature of the 2023 summer temperatures.
Focusing their attention on the climate data from the Northern Hemisphere, scientists found that the summer of 2023 was the hottest on Earth in the past 2,000 years, surpassing even the warmest periods of the Roman Empire.
The researchers employed tree-ring data spanning over 2,000 years to rebuild the data of old climatic conditions, comparing them with instrumental temperature records. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.
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MUST READ
🔥 2023 summer hottest on record, surpasses warmest period of Roman Empire
In aim to spotlight the urgency of the climate crisis, particularly greenhouse gas emissions impact, scientists constructed a model to comprehend climate variations to place the current global warming trends into context.
Tree-ring data helped reconstruct the summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere to understand the current climate better. Tree rings are concentric circles found in the cross-section of tree trunks with each ring representing one year of the tree’s growth.
These rings vary in width depending on factors such as climate, temperature, rainfall, and soil conditions during that year. This model allowed them to compare temperatures from various historical periods, including the Roman Empire, the Little Antique Ice Age, and the Little Ice Age.
👁️ Scientists unveil Mission Impossible 4-inspired smart contact lenses
Chinese scientists have developed a new type of lens that can be used for healthcare and augmented reality. Based on radio frequency, the eye-tracking smart contact lenses don’t require battery or conventional silicon chips and are biocompatible and imperceptible.
Set to be used for human-machine interaction (HMI), the smart contact lenses rely on tracking eye movements. The lenses use methods like pupil center corneal reflection and electrooculography (EOG) to track eye movements.
Researchers stressed that contact lenses are the ultimate form of AR and many science fiction works have depicted the seamless integration of the virtual world and the real world through contact lenses.
🖥️ Breaking exascale barrier: US tops supercomputer list with Frontier, Aurora
The US Department of Energy just delivered a one-two punch to the world of supercomputing with their Aurora system officially cracking the exascale barrier.
This epic achievement puts the US firmly in the lead, boasting the top two most powerful supercomputers on the planet, according to the latest Top500 list unveiled at the 2024 ISC High-Performance conference.
“The Department of Energy is thrilled by the Aurora team’s achievement,” said Geraldine Richmond, DOE’s Under Secretary for Science and Innovation.
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HOT TOPICS OF THE DAY
SCIENCE
> A new study found that six orders of insects including moths, beetles, crickets, and grasshoppers have evolved ears capable of detecting ultrasound. However, tiger beetles, still a step ahead, devised a strategy to keep bats at bay—when they hear a bat, the insect responds with their own ultrasonic signal. (More)
> Scientists at ETH Zurich have created a protein-based gel that can break down alcohol in the gastrointestinal system. This means less harm to the body and minimal side effects associated with alcohol consumption. (More)
> An international team of astronomers has detected a new, Earth-sized planet just 55 light years away, orbiting an ultra-cool red dwarf star. (More)
ENERGY
> A battery made from zinc and lignin that can be used over 8,000 times has been developed by researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, with a vision to provide a cheap and sustainable battery solution for countries where access to electricity is limited. (More)
> In a recent study, researchers from the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have produced the most comprehensive power outage dataset ever compiled for the United States. (More)
> Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a novel technique that significantly advances the conversion of waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into value-added chemicals and fuels. (More)
INNOVATION
> MIT engineers have developed wearable robotic limbs that have the potential to help astronauts get up quickly from falls on the lunar surface. (More)
> NASA is looking to build the “first lunar railway system” using robots. If it is eventually deployed, the lunar railway system will provide “reliable, autonomous, and efficient payload transport on the Moon,” NASA explained in a statement. (More)
> Researchers have demonstrated a technique that allows people who manufacture metal machine parts with 3D printing technologies to conduct automated quality control of manufactured parts during the finishing process. (More)
VIDEO
> Researchers at the University of Basel have just made a breakthrough in quantum computing, possibly making the million-qubit chip achievable. (More)
> New research from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL) has developed an interface that could allow robots to understand degrees of softness. (More)
> SpaceX launched 20 of its Starlink internet satellites on May 14, on the company's 50th orbital mission of 2024. (More)
IE QUIZ: THE RESULTS
In yesterday’s quiz, we asked, Can you find the missing number?
The answer is: The pattern to find the number in the third ball of each row is sum of first square to the power of two and the second circle ? = 52+ 10= 35
FROM THE WEB
> Cat Royale is a unique multispecies world centred around a be-spoke enclosure in which three cats and a robot arm coexist for six hours a day during a twelve-day installation
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> Researchers have revealed huge magnetic toroids in the halo of the Milky Way, which are fundamental for cosmic ray propagation
> Scientists have created a jelly-like material that shows great potential for on-the-spot repair to a remarkable range of damaged organs and tissues in the human body
> A new nucleosynthesis process called the νr-process has been suggested by scientists. It operates when neutron-rich material is exposed to a high flux of neutrinos
> Today’s rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide increase is 10 times faster than at any other point in the past 50,000 years, researchers have found through a detailed chemical analysis of ancient Antarctic ice
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