Science News 31 August 2023 There is no denying the fact we are making incredible breakthroughs in science and they are coming faster than ever. One of the reasons for this is the fact when breakthroughs are made they can lead to other breakthroughs. Scientists are working on printing hearts on a 3-D printer. This is only the start of developing printed organs. I think most of us know the tragedy for people who are on organ donor lists and never get an organ because there are just not enough available. Once we get proficient at printing organs, hopefully those lists will no longer be needed. Scientists want to send some printed hearts to the International Space Station in 2027 to find out how they might be affected by radiation in space. They are doing this because they say they want to see how a human with a replacement printed heart will do in space. Scientists have been trying to figure out where our consciousness works, so far they are still trying. Recently scientists in Ireland held a study on the problem. They came to the conclusion quantum physics is somehow involved, to be even more precise, quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement is a process where one atom can contact another which is at any distance instantly. I could be wrong because I am not a physicist, but it sounds to me like this means we are receiving our consciousness from somewhere else and it is being sent to us. Scientists in Peru, specifically archaeologists have a problem and they are in a quandary about it. They have discovered so many ancient ruins they can’t handle them all. I am sure they will figure this one out. Perhaps they could invite archaeologists from all over the world to come to Peru and help. Did you know there was something very mysterious about our sun and it was called the greatest sun mystery of all? The mystery is why is the sun’s corona so hot? They have been puzzled because the surface of the sun is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but the corona which is above it is 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit. You can see this is a real puzzle. A recent study by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft detected what is believed to be the answer using extreme ultraviolet light. It found small magnetic waves swirling on the surface of the sun which release tremendous amounts of energy which could heat the corona. One area where researchers didn’t get the result they were aiming at was creating an AI preacher. Yes you read that correctly. They were trying to tie in religion with artificial intelligence. The researchers were from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. They conducted experiments where robot preachers were installed in various temples and churches and the reactions of the people were not good, and I don’t blame them. It was found even many of the donations stopped. I personally think this was a dumb experiment, but believe AI can be very useful in other areas. Researches are returning to the most incredible shipwreck ever found. I say it was the most incredible because it was the one where the over 2,000 year old mechanical computer known as the Antikythera Mechanism was found. Could there be other startling discoveries there? Probably not since it has been visited so many other times, but it is worth the trip just because something may have been overlooked. One article I came across suggests we are on the verge of having biological intelligence created artificially. We already know tiny human brains have been grown in the lab to the disgust of some scientists and now the Australians are studying if they can create cyborg computing chips which would be a combination of a chip and synthetic brain cells. This seems to open the door to a very worrisome possibility. Once synthetic biology is employed will there be a chance of mental breakdown or as it is better known, mental illness. If that happens it could be a disaster depending what area the chips are being used in. Could the chip get a disease which makes the biological part very sick or kills it? I am sure we would be told no, but who really knows? In case you think I am kidding about this, here is said to be the official statement by Australia’s Office of National Intelligence, “The project aims to merge the fields of artificial intelligence and synthetic biology to create programmable cyborg computing chips.” An announcement has been made stating progress toward making a nanomaterial has been made which could revolutionize electronic devices. This has been a hot field to be in as of late. There have been many gains in electronics and it is only a matter of time before we may be able to have devices which do not need a battery to run. Scientists in Spain have discovered a material which can turn light into electricity. It can also turn electricity into light. One of the components of the material is graphene which is a very thin material, the other is polythiophene a one dimensional conductive polymer. New solar panels have been developed which can heat themselves and repair themselves when damaged from radiation in space. They will no doubt be substituted for the current batch of solar panels being in current use. They could be very useful for space probes and even for space stations. Over the years there has been much talk about dark matter. This is a term for what scientists don’t know when they measure the matter in the universe and come up with what they believe is 95 percent is missing but is really there in the form of matter we can’t see, thus dark matter. Lately they believe they can discover dark matter and using this method they are puzzled by a galaxy which seems to show it has none. NGC 1277 is the first galaxy scientists have discovered where this has happened. The model of the universe scientists are using states all galaxies contain dark matter making this galaxy even more of a mystery. One of the dreams of scientists all over the world is fusion energy. Currently all our nuclear plants are fission based. Because of this there are inherent dangers and the waste products stay radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, and because of this are hard to safely store. Fusion is a different kettle of fish. It is created in such a way if the reaction fails, the machine shuts off and there is no danger. There is also no waste, meaning the buildings in it in do not have to be reinforced with domes, need no cooling pools and everything is far safer.
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