For the first time, researchers have achieved superconductivity — the phenomenon of electrical conductivity with zero resistance — in a material that’s not a superconductor.

The new technique demonstrates a concept that was first proposed back in the 1970s, but until now had never been proven, and it could lead to ways to make existing superconductors, like the ones used in MRI machines or maglev trains, cheaper and more efficient at higher temperatures.

“Superconductivity is used in many things, of which MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is perhaps the best known,” said lead researcher Paul C. W. Chu from the University of Houston.

This planet of ours, it ain’t gonna last forever. And though who the heck knows what’s going to happen to the world that far off into the future (or even after November 8th), Life Noggin decided to conduct a little brain exercise about how we could convert a planet like Mars or Venus, or a moon like Europa, into a second Earth.

Rattling around inside a hard drive doesn’t sound like an awful lot of fun — but then, neither does death.

Both eventualities are rather difficult to imagine, but we’ll all have to give them some thought sooner rather than later. Neuroscientist and neuroengineer Randal Koene thinks it’s only going to be another 10 years before we replace parts of the brain with prosthetics.

From there, it’s just a matter of replacing each region systematically, to end up with someone whose brain is immortal and electronic. Could the last person to die have already been born?

Your Tesla can drive itself. Not just on the highway, not under strict guidance, but everywhere. Or at least, it will have all the necessary gadgets to do so soon.

We are excited to announce that, as of today, all Tesla vehicles produced in our factory – including Model 3 – will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver.

– Tesla Blog

The plan was announced on Monday during an international aviation and aerospace forum in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, China Aerospace Museum and Juhuasuan, an arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba.

“In an era of space economy, the potential of a commercial space industry is immeasurable,” Han Qingping, president of the Chinarocket Co., Ltd, said at the forum.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Kolkata, India, have for the first time implemented a bio-waste-derived electrode as cathode in a quantum-dot-sensitized solar cell.

“The materials to be used as cathode in quantum dot solar cells need to be highly catalytic and electrically conducting to facilitate the electron transfer processes,” explains Professor Sayan Bhattacharyya from the Department of Chemical Sciences at IISER. He adds that the lamellar structure of human hair is likely responsible for the graphene-like sheets in the transformed graphitic porous carbon. “Secondly,” he continues, “since hair contains keratin and other amino acids, carbonizing the acid-digested hair under inert conditions likely retains the nitrogen and sulphur hetero-atoms, which are useful to enhance the catalytic propensity of the produced carbon.”

As the professor explains, the idea behind this research project was to use a bio-waste resource like hair in future energy technologies to achieve a win-win situation — i.e., “A smart way to address environmental concerns and also to produce cheaper devices.”

The robot revolution is gaining pace, but is it running in line with our values? Here are some of the main ethical issues keeping the AI experts up at night.

“Central banks increasingly are under pressure to keep ‘their’ currencies attractive. They should let the general public access electronic central bank money, not just financial institutions ( Niepelt 2015). To do this, they should embrace the blockchain.”

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New method for creating smaller switches for QC identified and making smaller and more efficient QC systems possible.

Edmonton nanotechnology researchers working with atom-sized materials have made a breakthrough that could lead to smaller, ultraefficient computers.

The team, led by Robert Wolkow, together with collaborators at the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg, have developed a way to create atomic switches for electricity nearly 100 times smaller than the smallest switches, or transistors, on the market today. Their findings appeared in the Oct. 26 edition of the scientific publication Nature Communications.

“What we’re showing in this new paper is one part in a bigger scheme … that allows us to make ultralow power consuming electronic devices,” said Wolkow, a physics professor at the University of Alberta and the principal research officer at Edmonton’s National Institute for Nanotechnology. He’s also chief technology officer at spinoff company Quantum Silicon Inc.

Talk about downsizing – researchers at the University of California in Santa Barbara have developed a design for a 50 nanometer square computer, the university announced Oct. 27.

For now, that size is entirely theoretical. It could be managed by a novel kind of logic that enables the computer to process data inside a three-dimensional structure.

“In a regular computer, data processing and memory storage are separated, which slows down computation. Processing data directly inside a three-dimensional memory structure would allow more data to be stored and processed much faster,” said Gina Adam, a postdoctoral researcher and the lead author of the paper.