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Firefly drones with infrared vision set to transform wind turbine and aircraft inspections

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Two UK-based companies, Innvotek and Mapair, have successfully trialled a drone system that uses infrared technologies and artificial intelligence to inspect composite structures, including wind turbines and aircraft wings, for defects. (See video below.)

Firefly Inspect can hover above wind turbine blades and aircraft using a 1,000W heat lamp to test for defects – the first time that such a powerful heat source has been fitted to a drone.

Firefly Inspect was originally a concept for inspecting aeroplane wings when they are stationary within hangars. Thanks to a collaboration with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, the technology has now been adapted to include inspection of on- and offshore wind turbines. [Read more…] about Firefly drones with infrared vision set to transform wind turbine and aircraft inspections

Abu Dhabi scientists discover new ‘metamaterial shapes’ that promise safer shielding

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It is well known that adding a layer of padding behind a hard surface can shield things inside from shocks and vibrations.

Engineers call this a sandwich core since it consists of multiple layers of different materials sandwiched together.

The sandwich cores are used in helmets, body armour, and to protect vehicles from impacts, blasts, and crashes. [Read more…] about Abu Dhabi scientists discover new ‘metamaterial shapes’ that promise safer shielding

Towards high-performance organic optoelectronics with better crystallinity at semiconductor interface

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Organic molecular interfaces with minimized structural mismatch and spontaneous electron transfer could open doors to high-efficiency optoelectronics

Organic semiconductors have garnered much attention in optoelectronics owing to their flexibility, which is allowed by weak interaction forces.

However, this also makes for poor charge carrier mobility.

In a new study, researchers from Japan combined organic semiconductor molecules with similar structures to produce interfaces with better crystal quality and charge transport efficiency, paving the way for the realization of high-mobility organic optoelectronics. [Read more…] about Towards high-performance organic optoelectronics with better crystallinity at semiconductor interface

Super productive 3D bioprinter could help speed up drug development

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A 3D printer that rapidly produces large batches of custom biological tissues could help make drug development faster and less costly.

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego developed the high-throughput bioprinting technology, which 3D prints with record speed – it can produce a 96-well array of living human tissue samples within 30 minutes.

Having the ability to rapidly produce such samples could accelerate high-throughput preclinical drug screening and disease modeling, the researchers said.

The process for a pharmaceutical company to develop a new drug can take up to 15 years and cost up to $2.6 billion. It generally begins with screening tens of thousands of drug candidates in test tubes. [Read more…] about Super productive 3D bioprinter could help speed up drug development

Hubble captures giant star on the edge of destruction

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In celebration of the 31st anniversary of the launching of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers aimed the renowned observatory at a brilliant “celebrity star”, one of the brightest stars seen in our galaxy, surrounded by a glowing halo of gas and dust.

The price for the monster star’s opulence is “living on the edge.” The star, called AG Carinae, is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction.

The expanding shell of gas and dust that surrounds the star is about five light-years wide, which equals the distance from here to the nearest star beyond the Sun, Proxima Centauri. [Read more…] about Hubble captures giant star on the edge of destruction

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The very first structures in the Universe

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The very first moments of the Universe can be reconstructed mathematically even though they cannot be observed directly.

Physicists from the Universities of Göttingen and Auckland (New Zealand) have greatly improved the ability of complex computer simulations to describe this early epoch.

They discovered that a complex network of structures can form in the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. [Read more…] about The very first structures in the Universe

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New technology allows scientists first glimpse of intricate details of Little Foot’s life

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In June 2019, an international team brought the complete skull of the 3.67-million-year-old Little Foot Australopithecus skeleton, from South Africa to the UK and achieved unprecedented imaging resolution of its bony structures and dentition in an X-ray synchrotron-based investigation at the UK’s national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source. The X-ray work is highlighted in a new paper in e-Life, published today (2nd March 2021) focusing on the inner craniodental features of Little Foot.

Little Foot is the nickname given to a nearly complete Australopithecus fossil skeleton found in 1994-1998 in the cave system of Sterkfontein, South Africa.

The remarkable completeness and great age of the Little Foot skeleton makes it a crucially important specimen in human origins research and a prime candidate for exploring human evolution through high-resolution virtual analysis.

To recover the smallest possible details from a fairly large and very fragile fossil, the team decided to image the skull using synchrotron X-ray micro computed tomography at the I12 beamline at Diamond, revealing new information about human evolution and origins. This paper outlines preliminary results of the X-ray synchrotron-based investigation of the dentition and bones of the skull (i.e., cranial vault and mandible). [Read more…] about New technology allows scientists first glimpse of intricate details of Little Foot’s life

Ancient structures were part of a giant, global ‘macrocomputer’, says researcher

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Many ancient megalithic structures were “macrocomputers”, and part of a global energy grid which provided free electricity worldwide, according to scientist Michael Tellinger.

The popular alternative historian and archaeologist says one of the most spectacular signs of ancient scientific knowledge and intelligence  is the fact that all the megalithic structures still remain standing on Earth thousands of years after they were built.

Moreover, most of them have a precise shape, structure and arrangement similar to what can be found inside modern computers. [Read more…] about Ancient structures were part of a giant, global ‘macrocomputer’, says researcher

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Mysterious monolith appears around the world

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A mysterious monolith (main picture) has been appearing in remote locations around the world since November last year, without any explanation as to what they are supposed to signify. 

Clearly modern in its construction, the metal monolith – which looks vaguely like an obelisk – was first spotted on 18th November in the desert in Utah, in the US. Then it disappeared about 10 days later.

After disappearing from Utah, it has reappeared in various locations including Belgium, the UK and Romania. [Read more…] about Mysterious monolith appears around the world

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    Ancient structures were part of a giant, global ‘macrocomputer’, says researcherMany ancient megalithic structures were “macrocomputers”, and part of a global energy grid which provided free electricity worldwide, according to scientist Michael Tellinger. The popular alternative historian and archaeologist says one of the most spectacular signs of ancient scientific knowledge and intelligence  is the fact that all the megalithic structures…
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Evidence of broadside collision with dwarf galaxy discovered in Milky Way

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Nearly 3 billion years ago, a dwarf galaxy plunged into the center of the Milky Way and was ripped apart by the gravitational forces of the collision.

Astrophysicists announced today that the merger produced a series of telltale shell-like formations of stars in the vicinity of the Virgo constellation, the first such “shell structures” to be found in the Milky Way.

The finding offers further evidence of the ancient event, and new possible explanations for other phenomena in the galaxy. [Read more…] about Evidence of broadside collision with dwarf galaxy discovered in Milky Way

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