Category: Technology

Energy Weapons

Previously for thousands of years, men have physically fought with men during times of war. Whether it is conquering the land, taking revenge, or initiating combat. Men have always done it physically through swords and gun power. Now things have begun to change.

The technology used to make our daily life easier, is now being used to develop weapons as well that could change the future of warfare.

Recently on a US Navy ship, a powerful laser weapon was onboard. This weapon was used to successfully take down an aerial vehicle in the Pacific Ocean. The weapon used is called The Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) MK 2 MOD 0. This weapon was created so navy ships could defend themselves against drones that come from above and to protect themselves from smaller boats.

According to several pieces of research, it has been found that there has been a rise in the market for energy weapons similar to the weapon used by the Navy all around the globe. This is because nations are looking for new and innovative ways to increase security and protect their borders from enemies that might harm them.

“With this new technology and the power it holds, the world is now redefining war conducted on water for the Navy.” This was said by a commanding officer in the US Navy. It seems that the navy prides itself on mastering such a weapon and is willing to test it out if they need to.

In comparison, the UK is also working on a similar weapon. They are working on a 50 kilowatt laser system which they plan on calling Dragon Fire. This system will be used in their maritime and land forces against missiles and other enemy weaponry. It will help strengthen their nation’s borders and keep their enemies at bay.

Russia, China, Iran, and Turkey are just a few names that too are working on energy weapons.

It is said that this spike in energy weapons is not sudden or recent. Rather the US has been working on it since the 1960s. However, the US Navy believes that this test was different. This was conducted with a high power laser and could be used as a future way of creating more energy weapons on a similar design.

The US air force is also working on new weapons just like the Navy is. They believe that the threat from drone attacks is a serious concern and a surge in drone technology has increased the likelihood of an attack.

Suspended Animation

Most science fiction movies have concepts of space travel which that every 11-year-old wants to take. However, is it possible in real life? Can we travel through space through extended periods or is it just science fiction?

In movies we have often seen humans that are sent into extended periods of a deep sleep just so they can survive their journey in space by flash freezing their bodies. This may still be far off in the future, but there has recently been some progress made.

A team of scientists has been researching suspended animation in mice. They wanted to see whether mice would be able to survive suspended animation or not by putting the mice into a state of hibernation by stimulation of certain neurons in their brain that could control hibernation-like behavior.

It is the first time in history that such neural progress has taken place.

In a journal titled Nature, a paper was published which explained how the researchers had found that certain brain pathways existed within the hypothalamus. These were said to be responsible for the state of hibernation-like sleep that mice would fall into. This state occurs when the body temperature of the mice decreases down to 20 degrees while the metabolic rate also decreases.

Researchers believe that body temperature is vital for most animals. It is vital in keeping them alive. In humans, if the body temperature were to fall by even a few degrees, the human would go into hypothermia and die. However, in the hibernation that is created by the research, the body temperature falls drastically and is controlled.

However, one should note that there is still much research that needs to be done in the field of human hibernation and how to sustain, maintain, and create it. It’s a task that will take many years to master.

Researchers believe that the research right now is not strong enough and not extensive enough for them to start thinking of humans. However, their end goal is to induce a similar state within humans by identifying neural processes that could do so.

Genetically Modified Moths

Moths are insects that a lot of people are scared of. They are also known to eat and destroy crops and ruin harvests. To reduce these losses, scientists have come up with a plan.

The Diamond Back moth is a huge moth that ruins tons of harvests and leads to around 5 billion dollars of losses every single year. Teams of researchers have been hired to take care of this issue and try to suppress the population of the Diamond Back moth.

To do so, a genetically modified Diamond Back moth has been created which will help reduce the population of moths that can ruin the harvest. These moths have just recently been put out into the wild.

The process that will take place will be that the moths that have been released will mate with female moths and the offspring will not be able to survive beyond the caterpillar age, which will eventually begin to lessen the population of moths. However, the catch is that only the female offspring will die, the male offspring will survive and mate with females again to breed offspring in which the female moth dies. When this continues for a while, the species will begin to suppress and they will be much less in number than before. However, it cannot completely erase the Diamond Back moth as the gene will rectify after a few generations.

This technique of creating sterile insects was created back in the 1950s. Now with updated technology and vast research, scientists have used a similar technique to reduce or suppress the population of the Diamond Back moth, so it does not harm or ruin the crops leading to huge losses.

Before the modified moths were released in the wild, they were marked on their bodies with fluorescent powder so they could easily be identified. This then allowed the team of researchers to observe the behavior of the moths and the way they interacted with their community.

They saw the released male moths behaved in the same manner as other male moths do in terms of survival and distance traveled, and this then helped their plan for insect suppression move forward.

However, one thing to note is that when a species is genetically modified, there is always a concern about the impact it will have on the environment.

Million Mile Battery

More businesses are now moving towards efficient practices to save the environment from further damage. Companies like Tesla are doing so by building solar powered electric cars. And recently, Tesla showed its interest in developing a million mile battery.

Tesla believes that the introduction of such a battery will reduce the cost of electric vehicles (EVs) by a significant amount. To be more exact, the company says that there will be little variation between the prices of EVs and gas engine cars.

Million mile battery users will have to worry less about frequent repairs and replacements of the battery as the million battery is designed to improve performance and longevity, as well as running costs.

The battery is yet to be manufactured and once introduced, it will be used in Tesla’s Model 3 luxury Sedan and is expected to be sold in China by the end of this year or early next year, before making it widely available in other parts of the world.

To make it happen, Tesla has recruited experienced academic battery experts who are working day and night to introduce this surprising invention to the world very soon.

The successful introduction of the million mile battery will make EVs much more accessible than they currently are. If that happens, the damage caused by regular vehicles on our atmosphere could be greatly reduced. This is one of the biggest milestones of the automobile industry in recent times.

It demonstrates that companies are now passionately finding ways to incorporate efficient practices for the good of the planet, and encouraging others to take more responsible steps to keep up with the changes in the market.

Oil Prices

Apart from knowing what’s going on in everyone’s life, commenting and talking about oil prices is a favorite sport for many. Interestingly, almost all social classes are quite keen to know about the daily rise and fall in oil and gold prices as their work is often directly or indirectly impacted by it. Even a student might worry about oil prices as it reflects in their transportation expenses.

For many years, oil prices were on an upward trajectory with minor changes. However, suddenly, the entire world was walloped by a deadly pandemic that caused everything to go upside down. But who would have though the impact of COVID-19 would be so harsh that oil prices would go negative.

It came as a massive shock for economists, politicians, and even the general public as this has never happened before. Even the Great Depression did not bring such a surprise for the world.

In these times, the demand for oil plummeted to the extent that oil traders no longer have any idea how to store excess oil. Although oil companies have been making endless efforts to curb the demand and find adequate storage, it is a rough time for them.

No one has anything to learn from history regarding this situation because this has never happened before! Oil refineries are also rejecting barrels of oil adding to the storage problem from oil manufacturers.

When will the situation get any better? No one knows! The world is dealing with a new virus. Huge corporations, politicians, and everyone else is in a race to find a solution to it and bring everything back to normal.

The recovery of this situation depends upon when normal transportation resumes to what it previously was, but this is only going to happen when the transmission of the Coronavirus lowers and people feel the need to buy oil for their transportation and business needs.

However, this situation favors the general public, tired of refilling their vehicle’s tanks every second day, at huge expense. The pandemic may have brought unlimited issues, but it really has controlled oil consumption, and consequently air pollution has also lowered in most major cities.

Plastic Eating Enzymes

Enzymes are things that we usually know exist within our bodies. We know there are some good ones and bad ones and even those that exist in yogurts. However, a type of enzyme has been found that could help us with the current environmental crisis the world is going through. With the snowcaps melting and the weather becoming worse every day, these enzymes could be a ray of hope for us.

Researchers that work in a company called Carbios have developed a mutant bacterial enzyme that can break down plastic in a few hours. The enzyme has been designed in a way that it can break down PET plastic bottles into their individual chemical components, which in turn can be used to create new bottles.

When we talk about traditionally recycled plastic, it is usually very low quality and is used for clothes or carpets and not for plastic bottles. This means plastic bottles need to be recreated from plastic which means horrible things for global warming. So, this bacteria could be incredibly helpful because it will enable old plastic to be used for the construction of other plastic bottles hence leading to less overall production in plastic.

The company has now partnered with famous companies like Pepsi and L’Oreal to take its mission forward and develop the technology.

The specific amount of time that has been given for plastics breaking down using this enzyme is around 10 hours. Many may wonder why such an enzyme hasn’t been discovered before? Interestingly, it had but was completely forgotten about until the people at Carbios began to experiment with it. It has been providing excellent results.

The goal for the company is to be up and running on a large industrial scale by 2024 – 2025, and help reduce plastic production within the world by doing so. The testing phase of the product still has not taken place but is planned to be tested in France in 2021.

Researchers believe the enzyme is extremely cost effective especially on an industrial scale. The cost of making new plastic from oil will be about 25 times more than the reproduction of plastic from the individual components produced through this enzyme.

Not only will the enzyme help reduce the production of plastic, it will also lower costs to consumers, encourage the practice of recycling much more, but ultimately benefit the planet.