Superconducting Magnet Reduces the Cost for a Fusion Reactor by a Factor of 40

A new 20 Tesla Superconducting magnet reduces the cost per watt of a fusion reactor by a factor of almost 40. MIT worked with Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup with over $2 billion in funding. The funders of CFS include Temasek Holdings (Singpore), the U.S. Department of Energy, Tiger Global Management, Bill Gates, Google and …

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AI Can Now Forget Copyrighted and Other Material

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed what they believe is the first machine unlearning method applied to image-based generative AI. This method offers the ability to look under the hood and actively block and remove any violent images or copyrighted works without losing the rest of the information in the model. …

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James Webb Telescope Detects Signs of Oceans and Organics on Dwarf Planets

Dwarf planets Eris and Makemake (out by Pluto) have surfaces bearing methane ice of unknown origin. This ice can provide important insights into the origin and evolution of volatiles in the outer solar system. We probably need to send new probes to the Dwarf planets to conclusively determine if liquid oceans have microbial life. Because …

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UN 2050 Forecasts for China and India’s Populations Overestimate by Hundreds of Millions

The UN reports that Asia has a total population of 4.78 billion but the UN overestimates China’s population by 16 million people. Asia is about 60% of global population. India and China make up about 60% of Asia’s population. The UN Population division has forecasted far high populations and fertility for India and China than …

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Canada’s Population Passes 41 Million Later This Week

Canada’s population will reach 41.0 million by the end of this week [about March 31, 2024]. Statistics Canada’s real-time tracker has the population at 40.98 million. Poland’s national statistics agency reports 37.7 million people. The UN numbers for Canada and Poland are off by 2-3 million for each country. The UN overestimates Poland and underestimates …

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How to Optimize the Structure and Quality of Thin Film Nobium for Superconducting Circuits

The performance of superconducting microwave circuits is strongly influenced by the material properties of the superconducting film and substrate. While progress has been made in understanding the importance of surface preparation and the effect of surface oxides, the complex effect of superconductor film structure on microwave losses is not yet fully understood. In this study, …

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