Science

17th Century Letter X-Ray

Researchers from MIT, King’s College London, Queen Mary University London, Utrecht and Leiden used X-ray microtomography scans of a 17th century folder letter locked letter to unfold and read the letter virtually without ever opening it. As amazing as this is, it is even better that the letter contained a complaint! :-)

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Fastest Random Number Generator

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Researchers have built the fastest random number generator by firing a laser into a translucent semionductor shaped like a bowtie and measuring the fluctuations in the intensity of the resulting scattered beam, at a rate of 250 terahertz.

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Vaccine Efficacy Explained

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The New York Times published a vaccine efficacy explainer, using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as an example, that describes how the different percentage figures are calculated.

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USB DNA Sequencing

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Using a nanopore sequencer on a USB dongle and new open-source fuzzy logic UNCALLED software, scientists can selectively sequence DNA samples in three days or less without the need for large expensive lab equipment.

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Whale Song Ocean Floor Mapping

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Researchers at Oregon State University have demonstracted how to map the ocean floor using whale song! The 190 dB song of fin whales takes the form of second long bursts in the 20Hz range separated by dozens of seconds and typically last for hours.

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Printed Paper Speaker

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Scientists at Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany have developed paper thin speakers which can be printed on rolls of paper called T-Paper. The paper holds two layers of conductive organic polymer with a piezoelectric layer in between that vibrates to create the sound. T-paper can be shaped into a circle and act as a hanging loudspeaker at events like tradeshows or as part of museum exhibits to broadcast audio information.

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Spinach Detectors

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Engineers at MIT have used spinach to detect explosive materials in groundwater. Carbon nanotubes in the spinach leaves emit a signal when the routes detect nitroaromatics, often found in landmines, which is picked up by an infrared camera that triggers an email to alert scientists.

Environment

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Indoor Infection Risk Calculator

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Airborne.cam is a calculator that displays the individual risk of COVID-19 infection indoors based on a number of input factors, such as size of the room, the type of ventilation, and the period of time spent in the room.

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2020s Technology

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Eli Dourado published an interesting technology prediction blog post looking at what the 2020s could bring to us in terms of technology advancements.

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10 Remarkable Discoveries of 2020

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Nature published a list of 10 remarkable discoveries of 2020 which include the violation of matter-antimatter symmetry, the connection between the shifting jetstream and the ozone layer, and the DNA based discovery of incest between the people buried in Newgrange.

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