Show Notes 31 January 2025
Story 1: Scientists use plasma to enable futuristic 3D-printed food — here’s how it could revolutionize an industry
Source: The Cool Down Story by Leslie Sattler
See also: https://phys.org/news/2024-12-3d-pea-gels-potential-food.html
See also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212429224004802?via%3Dihub
- Canadian scientists at the University of Alberta found a new way to improve plant-based [alternatives to meat] foods, and it involves plasma, the same stuff that makes up stars.
- The breakthrough makes 3D-printed pea protein hold its shape, opening doors for more affordable and tasty meat alternatives.
- Side note – Pea protein comes from yellow peas. The process to create pea protein involves drying and milling the peas into a flour, then separating the protein from the starch and fiber. This is usually done by either a wet or dry processing method. The result is a protein powder that’s rich in amino acids and free from common allergens like gluten and dairy. Pea protein is a popular choice for plant-based protein powders because it’s easily digestible, has a mild taste, and is environmentally friendly compared to animal-based proteins. Pea protein is naturally allergy-friendly and grows well on farms in Canada, US, Russia, China and Europe, making it an ideal ingredient for food makers.
- Pea protein is already in many foods we eat, from bread to dairy-free milk to meatless burgers. It’s cheap and packed with nutrients, but until now, it wouldn’t keep its shape when pushed through a 3D printer, limiting its use in food production.
- The research team solved this by mixing pea protein with special water treated with cold plasma, a cold version of the superheated matter found in stars.
- Side note – Cold plasma, also known as non-thermal plasma, is a fascinating state of matter. Unlike the hot plasmas found in stars and fusion reactors, cold plasma has most of its energy in the electrons rather than in the ions or neutral particles, making it not hot to the touch. It’s created by applying a strong electric field to a gas, ionizing it and forming a mixture of charged particles, radicals, and other reactive species. Cold plasma has a wide range of applications, from sterilizing medical equipment and promoting wound healing to being used in environmental cleaning and improving agricultural practices. It’s also being explored for use in cancer treatment and other medical therapies.
- When they ran tests comparing regular water to this [cold] plasma-treated water for treating pea protein, they discovered that using cold plasma-treated water made the pea protein keep its shape much better, and it stayed stable longer.
- These improvements in shape retention and stability resulted in improved 3D printing capability that will help produce plant-based foods with better textures and more interesting shapes, making meatless options more appealing to more people.
Story 2: Koreans Create EV Battery That Puts Out Its Own Fires and Holds 87% Power After 1000 Cycles
Source: CarScoops.com Story by Brad Anderson
See also: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.202406200
- Recently, a team from the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in Korea created an innovative new lithium metal battery that has a “triple-layer solid polymer electrolyte.” It’s capable of extinguishing itself in a fire and retains strong performance even after many charging cycles.
- Side note – A triple-layer solid polymer electrolyte is an advanced type of electrolyte used in lithium metal batteries. It consists of three distinct layers, each serving a specific function to enhance the battery’s safety, efficiency, and durability.
- Here’s a breakdown of the three layers:
- Outer Layer: This soft layer ensures excellent contact with the electrodes, facilitating the easy movement of lithium ions.
- Middle Layer: This robust layer boosts the mechanical strength of the electrolyte, preventing structural issues.
- Inner Layer: This layer contains materials like decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) to prevent fires, zeolite to enhance strength, and a high concentration of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (LiTFSI) to facilitate rapid lithium-ion movement.
- This triple-layer structure addresses common issues like dendrite formation (tree-like lithium structures that can cause fires or explosions) and improves the battery’s overall performance and safety. It’s particularly promising for applications in electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems.
- In traditional solid polymer electrolyte batteries, lithium can form small, tree-like structures called dendrites during charging and discharging. While the name might sound harmless, dendrites can damage the internal connections in a battery, significantly increasing the risk of fires and explosions. This long-standing challenge has made it difficult to maximize the potential of lithium metal batteries—until now.
- Side note – Solid polymer electrolyte batteries (SPEBs) are a type of rechargeable battery where the electrolyte is made from a solid polymer material instead of a liquid or gel. This polymer material allows ions to move between the battery’s electrodes during charging and discharging.
- The Korean team’s clever design includes soft outer layers that ensure good contact with the electrodes, while a strong middle layer improves the battery’s structural integrity.
- The electrolyte is further enhanced with a fire suppressant (decabromodiphenyl ethane), a high concentration of lithium salt, and zeolite, which bolsters its overall strength. While the specifics may sound highly technical, the result is a safer, more reliable battery.
- The innovation doesn’t stop at fire safety. According to the team behind its development, the battery design boasts exceptional longevity, retaining approximately 87.9% of its performance after 1,000 charging and discharging cycles. That’s a significant improvement compared to most current batteries, which typically lose 20–30% of their capacity over the same number of cycles.
- Reality Check – It’s unclear how long it will take for the innovative triple-layer lithium battery technology to reach mass adoption.
Story 3: Quantum computers that are actually useful and 1 step closer thanks to new silicon processor that could pack millions of qubits
Source: LiveScience.com Story by Owen Hughes
See also: https://www.equal1.com/post/equal1-new-major-quantum-computing-breakthrough
- Back on our December 27 show we talked about how Google’s ‘Willow’ quantum chip – and this news reflects the growing worldwide effort to develop practical quantum computing chips.
- First, let’s set the stage with a reminder – A quantum computer is a type of computer that uses the principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations. Unlike classical computers, which use bits as the smallest unit of information (with values of either 0 or 1), quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits. Qubits can represent both 0 and 1 simultaneously, thanks to a property called superposition. ***for more, check out the Show Notes for December 27, 2024.
- Okay, now for the news – The author of this article opens with, “We’ve just hit a ‘critical inflection point’ on the road to scalable quantum computers. Here’s why”.
- Scientists say they have reached “a critical inflection point” after developing a technology that makes silicon-based quantum processors more viable.
- Quantum computing company Equal1 has created a quantum processing unit (QPU) that can be built using conventional semiconductor manufacturing processes. This negates the complexity and expense typically involved with producing quantum processors using exotic materials or complicated techniques.
- The company has also developed what representatives called “the most complex quantum controller chip developed to date.” It can operate at ultra-low temperatures and paves the way for millions of qubits on a single chip — meaning it can handle a huge number of quantum bits of information simultaneously while keeping them stable and accurate for calculations.
- By contrast, the most powerful quantum chips today only house qubits in the thousands and are built with superconductors, all requiring cooling to near absolute zero in order to perform quantum computations.
- Equal1 representatives said in a statement that combined, the new technologies “pave the way for the next phase of quantum computing and demonstrate the fastest way to scaling is to leverage existing silicon infrastructure.”
Story 4: New knit haptic sleeve simulates realistic touch
Source: Stanford University News
Link: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/12/new-knit-haptic-sleeve-simulates-realistic-touch
See also: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.ado3887
- Wearable haptic devices, which provide touch-based feedback, can provide more realistic experiences in virtual reality, assist with rehabilitation, and create new opportunities for silent communication.
- Side note – In the realm of technology, haptics refers to the study and use of tactile feedback and sensations to interact with devices or control virtual objects.
- Currently, most of these devices rely on vibration, as pressure-based haptics have typically required users to wear stiff exoskeletons or other bulky structures.
- Now, researchers at Stanford Engineering have designed a comfortable, flexible knit sleeve, called Haptiknit, that can provide realistic pressure-based haptic feedback. Their design, published last month in Science Robotics, shows that pressure may be more effective than vibration for some applications and is the first step toward a new category of haptic devices.
- The senior author on the paper noted: “A device like this opens up a lot of new possibilities for user interfaces – how we experience virtual environments, how we experience remote communication. It’s much more lightweight, wearable, and comfortable.”
- The research team designed a battery-powered pneumatic system with pressure actuators that were essentially small, inflatable pouches that could be rapidly filled with air. But they needed a way to hold those pouches against the skin without using a clunky exoskeleton.
- One of the Stanford researcheers, who makes clothes as a hobby, realized that knit fabric might hold the answer. The team designed a soft textile that would be stiff in some areas – creating an inflexible backing to hold the pressure actuators against the skin – and flexible where needed to allow for movement and comfort.
- The Stanford researchers worked with a team at MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab to manufacture the Haptiknit sleeve prototype on a knitting machine, with space for eight actuators arranged in two rows.
- Most of the sleeve was knit from nylon and cotton, but the areas backing each actuator also included a thermoplastic fiber. Once the knitting was done, the researchers used heat to melt the thermoplastic fibers and cause them to harden, stiffening those areas.
- The researchers tested the Haptiknit prototype with 32 users. They found that people could more accurately discern the location of individual touches from the pressure actuators than from a similarly arrayed vibrational device.
Honorable Mentions
Story: Study Reveals Key Alzheimer’s Pathway – And Blocking It Reverses Symptoms in Mice
Source: ScienceAlert.com Story by David Nield
- A sequence of stress signals among specialized clean-up cells in the brain could at last reveal why some immune responses can cause significant nerve degeneration that results in the loss of memory, judgement, and awareness behind Alzheimer’s disease.
- Blocking this pathway in mouse brains modeled on Alzheimer’s prevented damage to their synapse connections and reduced the buildup of potentially toxic tau proteins – both hallmarks of the condition.
- The researchers, led by a team from the City University of New York (CUNY), believe this pathway – called the integrated stress response (ISR) – causes brain immune cells called microglia to go ‘dark’ and start damaging rather than benefiting the brain.
- “We set out to answer what are the harmful microglia in Alzheimer’s disease and how can we therapeutically target them,” says CUNY neuroscientist Pinar Ayata.
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Story: Damaged Hearts May Have Hidden Self-Healing Powers, Study Finds
Source: ScienceAlert.com Story by David Nield
Link: https://www.sciencealert.com/damaged-hearts-may-have-hidden-self-healing-powers-study-finds
- The right therapy can dramatically boost the self-healing capabilities of the human heart after heart failure, a new study has found – giving the vital organ regenerative powers even beyond those of a healthy heart.
- It means we may be able to develop treatments that improve recovery rates for damaged hearts, according to the international team of researchers behind the study – though for now it’s not clear exactly why this repair rate boost happens.
- “The results suggest that there might be a hidden key to kickstart the heart’s own repair mechanism,” says molecular biologist Olaf Bergmann, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
- Recovery rates were monitored in 52 patients who had suffered heart failure, 28 of whom were treated using a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a surgically implanted device that helps to pump blood around the body.
- Advanced heart failure patients normally receive this implant for life or until they can get a heart transplant. Some patients’ hearts improve so dramatically that LVAD removal becomes an option.
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Story: How body heat could replace batteries in wearables of the future
Source: Popular Science via MSN Story by Mack DeGeurin
- Sensor-equipped wearables like smartwatches, fitness bands, rings, and even some internet connected clothing have lurched their way into mainstream acceptance in recent years. Though many of the devices have become more compact over successive iterations, almost all still need some sort of battery to hold power. Batteries can add weight and need to be charged which can present issues with certain healthcare wearables where constant, uninterrupted monitoring of a user’s vitals are crucial.
- Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia believe they may have come up with a solution: a thin, flexible, and cost-effective film that converts body heat into power. That energy source, the researchers argue in a study published today in Science, could then be used in lieu of batteries to power next generation wearable tech. The study builds off other recent research showing how small thermoelectric devices can essentially turn the human body into a mini geo-thermal reactor to power wearbels. It’s still early, but researchers are hopeful the film, if scaled properly, could help bring about more useful smart clothing and longer lasting wearable medical devices that could potentially function without batteries.
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Story: MIT Physicists Control Magnetism with Light
Source: ExtremeTech.com Story by Ryan Whitwam
Link: https://www.extremetech.com/science/mit-physicists-control-magnetism-with-light?
- Scientists from MIT have been blasting magnets with lasers, which is more scientific than it sounds. Researchers working with antiferromagnetic material have devised a way to control the magnetic states of atoms with a super-fast laser. With the precise control over atomic spin demonstrated in this work, it may be possible to develop a new generation of more durable and efficient magnetic data storage.
- Everyone knows what a magnet is, but what about an antiferromagnet? Magnetic materials get their attractive properties from the orientation of atomic spin. In a magnet, the spin is aligned in the same way so the material can be influenced by an external magnetic field. However, an antiferromagnet is composed of atoms with alternating spin—one pointing up, then one down, then up, and so on. This averages out to net zero magnetization.
- Researchers have long believed that antiferromagnets could serve as a next-generation alternative to traditional magnetic storage media. However, the problem has always been in how you write data by switching up its magnetic states. That’s where the laser comes in.
- This work relies on terahertz lasers, which oscillate more than one trillion times per second. This high-frequency light can be adapted to the natural vibrations of atoms in antiferromagnetic material. Hitting atoms with this laser can nudge them into new magnetic states that persist after the laser is deactivated. The researchers say it’s possible to align atomic spins so precisely that you can “write” data to a specific domain. For example, a spin combination of up-down could be a “0” bit, and down-up can signify the classical bit “1.”
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