Scientific News
Scientific News
SCIENCE NEWS
Einstein Telescope: Unlocking a New Era in Astronomy From 250 Meters Underground
The Einstein Telescope is being built around 250 meters underground. With interferometers in the three tunnels, each ten kilometers long, it will measure collisions of black holes in the early universe. Credit: NIKHEF
The Einstein Telescope, set to begin observations in 2035, will expand our capability to detect gravitational waves, offering new insights into the universe’s most dramatic events, including neutron star collisions that form elements like gold.
It’s still just a plan, but a new telescope could soon be measuring gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are something like the sound waves of the universe. They are created, for example, when black holes or neutron stars collide. The future gravitational wave detector, the Einstein Telescope, will use the latest laser technology to better understand these waves and, thus, our universe. One possible location for the construction of this telescope is the border triangle of Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
How the Universe Makes Gold
The summer of 2017 had an extremely exciting day for astronomers: On August 17, three gravitational wave detectors registered a new signal. Hundreds of telescopes around the world were immediately pointed at the suspected point of origin and a luminous celestial body was indeed seen there. For the first time, the collision of two neutron stars was detected both optically and as a gravitational wave.
THE ASCENSION OF AI IN R&D
Many scientists are keeping an eye on AlphaFold, DeepMind’s protein structure prediction software that revolutionized how proteins are understood. DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs have recently announced how their latest model shows improved accuracy, can generate predictions for almost all molecules in the Protein Data Bank, and expand coverage to ligands, nucleic acids, and posttranslational modifications. Therapeutic antibody discovery driven by AI is also gaining popularity, and platforms such as the RubrYc Therapeutics antibody discovery engine will help advance research in this area.
Though many look at AI development excitedly, concerns over accurate and accessible training data, fairness and bias, lack of regulatory oversight, impact on academia, scholarly research and publishing, hallucinations in large language models, and even concerns over infodemic threats to public health are being discussed. However, continuous improvement is inevitable with AI, so expect to see many new developments and innovations throughout 2024.
TO THE MOON AND BEYOND
The global Artemis program is a NASA-led international space exploration program that aims to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon by 2025 as part of the long-term goal of establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon. Additionally, the NASA mission called Europa Clipper, scheduled for a 2024 launch, will orbit around Jupiter and fly by Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, to study the presence of water and its habitability. China’s mission, Chang’e 6, plans to bring samples from the moon back to Earth for further studies. The Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission by Japan’s JAXA plans to bring back samples from Phobos, one of the Mars moons. Boeing is also expected to do a test flight of its reusable space capsule Starliner, which can take people to low-earth orbit.
The R&D impact of Artemis extends to more fields than just aerospace engineering, though:
Robotics: Robots will play a critical role in the Artemis program, performing many tasks, such as collecting samples, building infrastructure, and conducting scientific research. This will drive the development of new robotic technologies, including autonomous systems and dexterous manipulators.
Space medicine: The Artemis program will require the development of new technologies to protect astronauts from the hazards of space travel, such as radiation exposure and microgravity. This will include scientific discoveries in medical diagnostics, therapeutics, and countermeasures.
Earth science: The Artemis program will provide a unique opportunity to study the Moon and its environment. This will lead to new insights into the Earth's history, geology, and climate.
Materials science: The extreme space environment will require new materials that are lightweight, durable, and radiation resistant. This will have applications in many industries, including aerospace, construction, and energy.
Information technology: The Artemis program will generate a massive amount of data, which will need to be processed, analyzed, and shared in real time. This will drive the development of new IT technologies, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
THE QUANTUM COMPUTER
Speaking of missions to space, cell phones today have more processing power than the computers on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon! While it’s amazing to think about how much computers have changed and influenced space travel, it’s even more amazing to think about how much potential there is in the future as computers only keep getting faster, a lot faster.
NASA is currently working with Google to create the world’s first quantum computer. This computer’s processor will be about 3,600 times faster than the computers of today, which means some huge scientific advances will be possible in the near future. According to Brad Pietras of Lockheed, quantum computing will be most beneficial initially in the fields of drug discovery, cybersecurity, business, finance, investment, health care, logistics, and planning.
The quantum computer is one science experiment that will surely influence the science experiments of the future. At what cost? Once it’s done, the estimated cost for the first quantum computers is $15 million.
More: https://financesonline.com/10-worlds-most-expensive-science-experiments/
CURIOSITY
To shed some light on how the development of computers has changed the way that scientists are able to study outer space, you don’t need to look any further than the famous Curiosity.
Curiosity is a robotic Mars explorer that landed on Mars in August of 2012 as a part of NASA’s larger Mars Exploration program. The goals of this rover’s mission are to study geology and climate of the planet and to investigate whether the planet has ever had an environment where life could have occurred. Curiosity is also looking at the habitability of Mars, in preparation for a future human mission to our neighboring planet.
The cost of Curiosity’s mission was $2.5 billion, $8 for every American.
More: https://financesonline.com/10-worlds-most-expensive-science-experiments/
LARGE HADRON COLLIDER
Not to let the dream of discovering the Higgs Boson particle die, the Large Hadron Collider was completed in 2008. Complete with a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets, it is the most powerful particle accelerator in the world.
The completion of this project cost $10 billion to construct. It paid off in the end though when the Higgs Boson particle was finally discovered this year.
The reason why this particle was so sought after by scientists, researchers, and governments is because it can help explain the Big Bang and how the universe was created. It is the same particle that is misleadingly referred to by some as the “God Particle”.
More: https://financesonline.com/10-worlds-most-expensive-science-experiments/
