Wang Fang

Scientists Have Created “Nanopasta,” The World’s Thinnest Strands Of Material, 200x Slimmer Than Human Hair, From Starch-Rich Flour Using An Electrospinning Method. The Sustainable, Scalable, & Biodegradable Nanofibers Could Revolutionize, E.G., Wound Healing, Tissue Regeneration, & Drug Delivery While Promoting Eco-Friendly Innovation.

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A Teenager In British Columbia Is The First Person In Canada To Test Positive For Bird Flu (H5N1). The Teen Is In Critical Condition At A Children’s Hospital. The Source Of The Infection Is Under Investigation, Likely From A Bird Or Animal. Human Cases Are Rare, But Scientists Worry About Potential Mutation For Human-To-Human Transmission.

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The European Space Agency (ESA) Metal 3D Printer, Developed By Airbus & Partners, Successfully Printed The First Ever Metal Part In Space, In August 2024, At The ISS. The Printed Parts Will Be Analyzed In Europe. This Technology Will Enhance Mission Autonomy For Future Moon & Mars Explorations, Allowing For On-Demand Part Manufacturing.

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iRonCub3, Developed By The Italian Institute Of Technology, Is The World’s First Jet-Powered Humanoid Robot. Weighing 70 Kg, It Flies Using 4 Jet Engines—2 On Its Back And 2 On Its Arms. Equipped With Advanced Control Algorithms And Heat-Resistant Materials, iRonCub3 Could One Day Assist In Natural Disaster Rescue Missions Or Reach Inaccessible Areas.

A Groundbreaking Blood Test Analyzing CRP–A Liver Protein, Lipoprotein(A), And Cholesterol In 30K US Women Reveals Heart Health Risks 30-Yrs In Advance. This “Three-Pronged” Approach, Recommended For Those In Their 30s Or 40s, Showed That High Levels In All 3 Markers Triple Heart Disease Risk, But Early Detection Enables Prevention.

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Archaeologists Have Discovered The World’s Oldest Calendar At Gobekli Tepe, Turkey, Dating Back 12kyrs. The Site Features 365 “V” Symbols On A Pillar, Representing A 12-Month Lunar Calendar With 11 Extra Days. The Carvings May Depict A Comet Strike 13kyrs Ago That Influenced Early Agriculture, Religion, And Possibly Led To Writing.

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In A World-First, Astronomers Have Witnessed A Supermassive Black Hole “Waking Up” And Brightening In Real-Time. Located 360 Million Light-Years Away In Galaxy SDSS1335+0728, The Black Hole Has Shown Increased Luminosity Since 2019, But Its Activation Cause Remains Unknown. Similar Activation Could Occur With Sagittarius A* In Our Galaxy.

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Scientists Uncovered A 1,400-Year-Old Seagrass Clone, Zostera Marina (Eelgrass), In The Baltic Sea, Making It The World’s Oldest Known Marine Plant. Using A Genetic Clock Calibrated With A 17-Yr-Old Seagrass Clone, The Team Determined The Age By Comparing Genetic Variations. This Method May Reveal Older Organisms In Other Seagrass Species.

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Astronomers Discovered WASP-193b, An Exoplanet 50% Larger Than Jupiter But Only 14% Of Its Mass, Making It The 2nd Lightest Known Planet After Kepler 51d. Located 1,200 LY Away, The “Puffy Jupiter” Is Likely Comprised Mainly Hydrogen & Helium, And Its Extended Atmosphere Is Ideal For Studying Its Planetary Formation With Tools Like JWST.

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The Closest Transiting, Temperate, And Potentially Habitable Earth-Size Exoplanet, Gliese 12b, Has Been Discovered. It’s 40 LY Away In Pisces, Orbits A Red Dwarf In 12.8 Days, And Has A Surface Temperature Of 107°f. Found By NASA’s TESS, Its Atmosphere Will Be Analyzed By The James Webb Telescope, But Human Visitation Is Impractical.

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Scientists In China, For The First Time In The World, Cured A 59-Year-Old Man’s Type 2 Diabetes Using His Stem Cells, Making Him Insulin-Independent. This Is The First Successful Stem Cell-Derived Islet Transplantation. The Patient, Diabetic For 25 Years And Insulin-Dependent After A 2017 Kidney Transplant, Received The Treatment In 2021.

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Nvidia’s New Blackwell B200 GPU Is The World’s Most Powerful Chip For AI. The B200, Which Offers 20 Petaflops, When Combined With The GB200 (Featuring Two B200 GPUs And A Grace CPU), Boosts AI Computing Efficiency And Performance. Nvidia Claims The B200 Cuts Costs And Energy Use By Up To 25x Over The H100 And May Cost $30,000 To $40,000.

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Climeworks Launched “Mammoth,” The World’s Largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) Plant In Iceland, Which Is 10x Bigger Than Orca. It Aims To Remove 36,000 Tons Of CO2 Annually, Using Geothermal Energy To Capture And Store Carbon Underground. While Promising, DAC Tech Faces High Costs, Scalability Issues, And Fossil Fuel Distraction Concerns.

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Astronomers Observed, For The First Time, The ‘Glory Effect’ (GE) On An Exoplanet, WASP-76b, Similar To Earth’s & Venus‘s. It Features Concentric, Colorful Rings Of Light Caused By Light Reflecting Off Clouds Made Of A Uniform Substance. Extreme Conditions—Scorching Dayside, Nightside Iron Rain—Permit GE, Offering Insights Into Alien Atm.

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Mercedes Became The First To Sell Autonomous Cars In The US, In CA & NV, Allowing Drivers To Do Other Activities While Car Drives At Low Speeds On Approved Freeways. Their “Level 3” Tech, Drive Pilot, Surpasses Tesla’s Level 2 Tech But Trails Waymo Or GM’s Cruise Near-Total Autonomy Level 4 Tech. Mercedes Aims For Level 4 By 2030.

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Scientists Discovered A Huge Water Reservoir, 3x Earth’s Oceans, 700 Km Deep Within The Mantle In The Rock Ringwoodite. This Find Challenges Theories On Earth’s Water Origin, Suggesting Possibly Internal Rather Than From Comets. Seismic Data Reveals This Underground Ocean, Potentially Reshaping Our Understanding Of The Planet’s Water Cycle.

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Chinese Scientists Created One Of The Stretchiest Materials Known To Science By Linking Polymer Coils With Carbon Atoms. The Elastic Hydrogel (HG) Stretches Up To 15x Its Size Before Reverting To Its Original Shape, Unlike Traditional HGs. The HG, Tested With Robot Grippers, Proved Gentle On Fragile Items, Hinting At Wide Commercial Use.

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The Carrington Event (CE) Of 1859, The Largest Solar Storm (SS) On Record, Was Stronger Than Believed. Historical Magnetograms Show It Reached >500 NT/Minute. SSs, Like CE, Have Occurred Throughout History, But Accurate Data To Measure Their Sizes Spans < 200 Yrs, Highlighting Our Vulnerability To Such Events And The Need For Preparation.

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Miassite, RH17S15, Is The World’s First Unconventional Superconductor (USC) Found In Nature And Also Synthesized In Labs, Which Does Not Conform To The Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer Theory (BCS), Joining A Group That Only Includes Lab-Conceived USC. This Discovery Holds Promise For Economically Advancing Industrial Superconductor Technologies.

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Harvard Researchers Have Developed A Breakthrough Eco-Friendly Solid-State Lithium Metal Battery That Is Rechargeable In 10 Mins And Can Be Recharged Over 6,000 Times, More Than Any Pouch-Shaped Battery. The Battery Could Significantly Enhance Electric Vehicle Range. Harvard Would Lease The Battery To Adden Energy To Commercialize It.

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