US lab creates world’s brightest X-ray source, brain-inspired chip learns autonomously, world’s largest telescope faces risk

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have created the world’s brightest X-ray source, which has surpassed the intensity of previous sources by twofold. This breakthrough could advance critical fields like fusion energy research.

To achieve this milestone, the researchers combined two powerful tools: the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser and ultra-light metal foams.

The NIF laser, one of the world’s most energetic lasers, is capable of delivering incredibly intense pulses of light. Delve deeper into our Must-Read.

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⚡️ US lab creates world’s brightest X-ray source with 2x intensity for fusion research

The researchers chose silver for their metal foam. They chose silver because the energy of the X-rays a metal produces is linked to its atomic number. “The team used silver because they wanted to make X-rays with an energy greater than 20,000 electron volts,” explained the researchers in a press release.

Not only the elemental composition but the structure of the foam was also very important for the experiment. “The team manufactured 4-mm-wide cylindrical targets using a mold and silver nanowires,” highlighted the press release.

When the NIF laser hits a solid piece of metal, it heats a small area on the surface. However, the porous nature of the foam allows for deeper laser penetration and subsequent heating of a much larger volume of material.

🧠 Breakthrough brain-inspired chip autonomously learns and corrects mistakes

A team of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) in South Korea has developed a memristor-based integrated chip that mimics the way information is processed in the brain.

The team led by professors Shinhyun Choi and Young-Gyu Yoon’s has come up a next-gen neuromorphic chip, an ultra-small semiconductor that learns and corrects errors independently. The study was published in Nature Electronics.

The chip is now ready for deployment in various devices, such as smart security cameras that instantly detect suspicious activity without relying on cloud servers and medical devices that analyze health data in real time.

🔭 World’s largest telescope faces risk from renewable energy project, warn scientists

Scientists have warned that a renewable energy project poses a risk for the world’s largest telescope.

AES Energy, a US-based company, plans to construct a large renewable hydrogen facility in Chile, just a few kilometers from Mount Paranal, home to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).

Built in the 1990s at the cost of $350 million (equivalent to $840 million today), the Very Large Telescope is among the world’s most advanced sky-watching instruments. Comprising four 27-foot-wide (8.2 meters) telescopes that work in unison, the high-precision observatory has unraveled some of the universe’s most enigmatic phenomena. 

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