Science
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Built-in fire extinguishers can prevent battery explosions
Lithium-based batteries like the ones that power electric vehicles are at risk of overheating YONHAP/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Batteries enhanced with a polymer material that releases fire-suppressing chemicals at high temperatures are significantly less likely to explode into flames. This technique could boost the safety of battery-reliant machines, like electric cars and medical devices. “Our approach enhances safety within mainstream liquid lithium batteries,”…
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Forests’ vanishing snow is also bad news for carbon storage
Forests like Mount Mansfield State Forest in Vermont are losing their snowpacks Douglas Rissing/Getty Images Many forests are losing their winter snowpack as global temperatures rise, and that could substantially slow their growth – and reduce the amount of carbon they remove from the atmosphere. Current projections “are not incorporating that complexity of winter climate change, so they are likely…
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Polycystic ovary syndrome may be passed on via chemical tags on DNA
Illustration of enlarged ovaries in someone with polycstic ovary syndrome Science Photo Library/Alamy Polycystic ovary syndrome may be passed down through families via chemical tags that change the structure of DNA, suggesting that drugs that modify these tags in embryos could prevent the condition. People with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have at least two of three key features: high levels…
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Mice with two fathers have their own offspring for the first time
Adult male mice that have two fathers and went on to have offspring of their own Yanchang Wei For the first time, mice with two fathers have gone on to have offspring of their own – marking a significant step towards enabling two men to have children to whom they are both genetically related. However, there is still a long…
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The prospectors hunting hydrogen along a US continental rift
New Scientist visited a hydrogen well in Kansas Hyterra/Adler Grey The drilling rig rises several stories above a field normally full of grazing cattle. Though we’re in Kansas, the rig is flying both an American and an Australian flag to reflect its owner’s origin down under: HyTerra has come all the way from Australia in search of natural hydrogen fuel…
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Starlink satellites are leaking radio signals that may ruin astronomy
A batch of Starlink satellites launched on a Falcon 9 rocket SpaceX SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are leaking radio waves to such an extent that it could threaten our ability to study and understand the early universe, say astronomers. Interference from the thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit, where they provide a global internet service, has been a continuing concern for…
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There may be a surprising upside to losing coral reefs as oceans warm
Satellite view of coral reefs in New Caledonia Shutterstock/BEST-BACKGROUNDS There might be an upside to the loss of coral reefs. Their decline would mean oceans can absorb up to 5 per cent more carbon dioxide by 2100, researchers estimate, slowing the build up of this greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere. “It is a beneficial effect if you only care about…
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Cord blood banking is not living up to its promise
Banking a baby’s umbilical cord blood was once seen as a reasonable way to protect their future health, but much of that potential has turned out to be mere hype Source link
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AI doesn’t know ‘no’ – and that’s a huge problem for medical bots
AI models can struggle to understand the captions on some medical images Getty Images Toddlers may swiftly master the meaning of the word “no”, but many artificial intelligence models struggle to do so. They show a high fail rate when it comes to understanding commands that contain negation words such as “no” and “not”. That could mean medical AI models…
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Radical photon idea could rewrite standard model of particle physics
Photons could upend the standard model of particle physics Eduard Muzhevskyi/Alamy If photons possess more quantum states than expected, it would overhaul our understanding of all particle physics – and now physicists have identified a way to test this radical idea in an experiment. Certain elementary particles have a property called spin. For particles of light, or photons, spin can…
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