The plant, dubbed the Noor 1, is located on the edge of the Sahara in a town called Ouarzazate. The plant covers thousands of acres of desert and generates up to 160 megawatts of power, making it already one of the world’s largest solar thermal power plants.
Doubling the size of a tree only increases the required wind speed by 9%; likewise, using wood more resistant to fracturing (oak versus pine) increased the critical wind speed by less than 10%. The scientists point out that their finding may reflect an optimization over evolutionary time, as wind speeds on Earth rarely exceed 50 m/s. The mathematical relationship could also explain how corals and other sedentary organisms grow in water currents.
via Trees, regardless of size, all break at the same wind speed. Here’s why. | Science | AAAS.
Scientists in Australia are set to begin trials of a new bionic eye system that’s expected to give patients vision several times better than current vision restoration technologies.
via Australian scientists to begin trialling fully implantable bionic eye – ScienceAlert.
New findings from an international collaboration led by Canadian scientists may eventually lead to a theory of how superconductivity initiates at the atomic level, a key step in understanding how to harness the potential of materials that could provide lossless energy storage, levitating trains and ultra-fast supercomputers.
via Physicists discover new properties of superconductivity.
German scientists have just switched on the Wendelstein 7-X (W7X) stellarator – the largest nuclear fusion machine of its kind – to successfully produce and sustain hydrogen plasma for the first time.
via Germany’s massive nuclear fusion machine just produced its first hydrogen plasma – ScienceAlert.
Sky Muster is part of a plan to provide a better standard of internet to homes and businesses that can’t get access to speedy fixed-line broadband services.
via NBN’s first satellite, Sky Muster, launches successfully into orbit.
A new drug has been shown to significantly reduce cancer cells in almost 80 percent of patients with an advanced form of leukaemia in a four-year clinical trial. In 20 percent of patients, it caused complete remission of the disease.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3xY6Ffy_wE
via New drug causes cancer to “melt away” in patients with advanced leukaemia – ScienceAlert.
