💡 Innovation
💡 Light is 16,000 times cheaper than in the 14th century
One million lumen-hours cost around £34,000 in the early 14th century. By 2023, the same amount of light cost £2.15. The price drop amounts to a 16,000-fold decline, measured in constant prices. New lamps, new fuels, and expanded electricity grids made the development possible.
📜 Text charred in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD, read in full 2,000 years later
Researchers have read a complete scroll from Herculaneum. The scrolls were carbonised by the heat and are so fragile they cannot be physically unrolled without being destroyed. Instead, high-resolution scans and computational techniques are used to virtually unwrap the scrolls.
🧬 The bluebuck went extinct in 1799, now it is being de-extincted
The bluebuck was the first large African mammal driven to extinction by humans in modern times. The company Colossal Biosciences is now working to bring the species back using genetic technology. The work is building methods that can also help other threatened antelope species.
🚧 Researchers build material atom by atom, long considered impossible
Researchers have placed individual carbon units at exact locations on a silicon surface and built structures atom by atom, something dismissed for decades as unworkable. In most attempts the carbon landed correctly, with an accuracy of up to 97 percent.
🛫 Autonomous system designed to fly itself from takeoff to touchdown
Merlin's autonomous flight system is built to handle the entire flight, from takeoff to touchdown, and can reduce crew workload. The technology is designed to fly several types of large aircraft, including commercial jets and military transport planes.
🪨 New method halves the cost of extracting lithium from rock
Researchers at MIT have developed a process that dissolves lithium minerals at room temperature instead of above 1,800 degrees. The method is estimated to cost half as much as today's extraction of lithium from hard rock. The process recycles its own chemicals, bringing waste close to zero.
🌾 Indian scientists have bred rice that handles both flood and drought
India has bred two rice varieties for opposite water problems. One yields nearly 50 percent more in flood years with no penalty in normal years. The other yields up to 35 percent more in dry conditions and grows in dry soil, without flooded paddies. The poorest farmers gain the most.
🔬 Most of what's inside the cell is invisible, a new laser method could change that
Today's cryo-electron microscopes reveal only about 10% of human proteins, and less than 1% inside living cells. A new technique sharply improves image contrast using a laser 100 million times brighter than the Sun's surface. Researchers estimate over 50% of the cell's proteins could become visible.
🦏 Satellites track animals from space to detect poachers in real time
When a poacher approaches, the animals flee in patterns that can be recognized, and tags on the animals pass the signal on so rangers can intervene. By 2027, six receivers in orbit will be able to receive data on animal movements in real time across the entire planet.