But, there’s a major problem—dust. Gradual dust accumulation on solar panels can reduce their efficiency by almost 30 percent within one month of operation. For some context, solar power losses of only three to four percent on a global scale could mean an economic loss of at least 3.3 to 5.5 billion dollars. As climate change intensifies dust storms, there may be a rapid loss of solar panels’ efficiency unless they are cleaned several times a month....
(Probably, back in the more innocent year of 1959, when the original film version made its debut, it didn’t seem so egregious.) If you don’t care, and simply want to escape into the fantastical special effects, that’s fine, but for some it might be more fun to use the film trailer to highlight a few interesting principles of physics and geology that preclude a pleasant stroll down into the Earth’s deep interior (and saving us eight-and-a-half dollars [a movie’s $11....
There’s a lot of industry talk about whether applying counter carbon technologies and techniques like carbon storage, carbon capture, carbon conversion, and carbon sequestration could make a sizable impact in removing carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas emitted today. Here’s a debrief on what these terms mean, the current state of technology, and what they would look like in practice. Carbon capture Carbon capture most commonly refers to the process of removing carbon dioxide from various sources like the smokestacks of power plants running on fossil fuels like coal, oil, or gas, as well as from manufacturing and production facilities....
As we looked out over steep slopes dotted with purple delphinium, the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas all around us, Abdul Latif told me that he had not always been a miner. He had become a mujahideen commander after the Soviet invasion in 1979, he said, and he’d faced the enemy’s artillery and helicopters in these very mountains: land mines and the bones of men were buried out there, and older things too....
As recently as May, the United States maintained a network of bases across the country, supporting the government it had backed for nearly 20 years in an ongoing war. This week, the number of troops deployed by the United States has quadrupled from the 2,500 it was in May. Meanwhile, the area of US control has shrunk to just Hamid Karzai International Airport, where the United States is overseeing evacuations of foreigners and vulnerable populations out of Afghanistan....
Check out these Apple accessories on sale: Oakywood iPhone And Apple Watch Charging Dock Get rid of cable clutter and add a stylish accessory to your workspace at the same time with this 2-in-1 dock that keeps your devices organized and energized. It can charge both iPhones and Apple Watches simultaneously, and its solid wood design classes up any desk. Normally $79, you can get it on sale for $59....
The Dawn mission was the first to visit a dwarf planet (sorry, Pluto). After arriving in March, the spacecraft has been orbiting and studying Ceres, which is also classified as an asteroid–the largest in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. From a distance of 240 miles, Dawn’s view of Ceres is similar to holding a basketball 7 inches from your eyes, chief engineer Marc Rayman told Popular Science in January....
On Friday, NASA released the first batch of the sharpest-ever images of the former planet. The view above shows the region where the flat Sputnik Planum meets the al-Idrisi mountains. It has a resolution of 250-280 miles per pixel, “revealing features less than half the size of a city block,” according to the NASA press release. “The new details revealed here, particularly the crumpled ridges in the rubbly material surrounding several of the mountains, reinforce our earlier impression that the mountains are huge ice blocks that have been jostled and tumbled and somehow transported to their present locations,” said John Spencer from the New Horizons team....
The best action sports photographs often come from shooters who are embedded in the lifestyle that they capture. (It’s hard to get an epic surf shot if you don’t know your way around a wave.) Killer action sports shots are even more impressive when you consider that the photographer has to be close to the action, riding alongside the athlete that they are documenting. But like so many other forms of photography award-winning action, sports images often come from a little bit of luck and simply being in the right place at the right time Red Bull’s annual photography competition, The Red Bull Illume Image Quest, celebrate these fantastic moments and the photographers who manage to capture them....
Adalatherium hui, which means “crazy beast” in a mix-up of Malagasy and Greek, roamed around Madagascar some 70 million years ago, and is a part of a relatively unknown group of mammals called gondwanatherians. This group of animals was named after their ancient homeland Gondwana, the lower half of the ancient continent Pangea, which once served as the one-and-only landmass on Earth. When the giant hunk of rock finally started to break apart some 180 million years ago, Gondwana moved south with the chunks we now know as South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, India, and Madagascar....
But you don’t need to be part of Forbes’ list to invest in real estate. If you have money saved up, all you need to have is the dedication to make the most out of your investment, and the smarts to arrive at the best decisions. The Mashvisor app can help you on that front. Real estate investing is daunting for anyone who has never tried their hand at spending money on something so big, let alone property....
When hunting for the perfect snowflake, the first thing to know is how they’re made. And in the book, Libbrecht and Wing include a handy guide. The below morphology diagram plots the main geometries based on temperature and humidity. And finally, it’s time for the snowflakes themselves. We’ve included a few of our favorites in the gallery below. You can read more in the book, which was published this fall....
Later attempts to make virtual reality look dark and edgy in the 1990s, in films such as Lawnmower Man and The Matrix and the other, often overlooked Keanu Reeves cyberspace movie, Johnny Mnemonic, succeeded less in making VR look appealing, than in making it look threatening and dystopic. Last year, virtual reality’s buffonishness reached an apex when Palmer Luckey, the young founder of Oculus VR, appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine in an illustration that was quickly mocked and Photoshopped into silly memes around the web....
Much like flowers shifting position as the day progresses, Proteus’ onboard technology allows its double-sided panels to turn in tandem with the sun’s movement in order to consistently generate as much solar power as possible. Because of this, SolarisFloat estimates Proteus can generate as much as 40 percent more energy than nonmoving arrays on land. Another benefit comes from its ability to maintain lower temperatures than land-based counterparts thanks to the water-cooled air underneath it....
The vehicle, which the Marine Corps tested in North Carolina in June, is a literal platform for the future. As the Marines plan towards not just mechanized but roboticized wars of the 2030s, the EMAV will be there, a sometimes autonomous truck carrying whatever it needs to. The EMAV is powered by a diesel-electric hybrid engine, allowing it to run parts of its missions silently. It can also, with fuel on hand, provide electrical power for the Marines using it in the field....
This fits some assumptions about the makeup of Mars, but it’s helpful to have positive, quantitative proof, scientists say. Curiosity scooped up some sand from its current hangout at Rocknest, in the Glenelg region of Gale Crater, and sifted it through a sieve. Only particles smaller than the width of a human hair make it through the sieve and into Curiosity’s belly, where the powerful Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument resides....
Still, some eco-conscious people and landowners are swapping pristine green grass for a sustainable lawn. Plants still cover the ground and provide beautiful greenery, but take up less water to maintain. Some are even great for local pollinators and utilize different plants and grasses that are often native to an area instead—creating beautiful, unique landscapes that support local wildlife. And in a changing climate, there’s plenty of reasons to ditch the monotonous green grass lawn for something more resilent and resource-savvy....
“We were interested in broadly trying to understand this phenomenon that most people who use social media platforms, especially Facebook and Twitter, are aware of—which is that when you log in, there’s often a lot of political content that floats around in your newsfeed, and it usually comes with a lot of moral outrage, especially during key times in American politics,” says William Brady, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of psychology at Yale University....
One of the key issues at play is a battle over how to count bots on Twitter. If your head has been spinning with all this, we understand. Here’s a quick catch-up. Is the deal on hold? Late last week, Musk tweeted that the “deal [was] temporarily on hold” until Twitter could provide proof that spam and fake accounts made up less than 5 percent of Twitter users. Then around two hours later he tweeted again, saying he was still “committed” to the deal....
People tend to take home security for granted without realizing the financial and emotional toll a theft can bring to the household should it happen. If you don’t want to be part of that statistic, make sure to invest in home security tools that can make you feel at peace. The Aegis Bosma Smart Door Lock can help get you started, as it’s designed to make your existing deadbolt smart without requiring you to change locks....
