#technology news a

[karlrincon]

Happy New Year 2024 from Korea.

Year of the 🐲🐉!

#Seoul #korea #happy 2024 #new year #drone show #drone #fireworks #amazing #video #viral #3d #technology #🎇 #nature #space #Star #night #earth #awesome #tumblr #hd #dragon #dragon year #chinese #tradition #art #love #moon #animal

[reasonsforhope]

"A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a real-time air monitor that can detect any of the SARS-CoV-2 virus variants that are present in a room in about 5 minutes.

The proof-of-concept device was created by researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering and the School of Medicine at Washington University...

The results are contained in a July 10 publication in Nature Communications that provides details about how the technology works.

The device holds promise as a breakthrough that - when commercially available - could be used in hospitals and health care facilities, schools, congregate living quarters, and other public places to help detect not only the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but other respiratory virus aerosol such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as well.

“There is nothing at the moment that tells us how safe a room is,” Cirrito said, in the university’s news release. “If you are in a room with 100 people, you don’t want to find out five days later whether you could be sick or not. The idea with this device is that you can know essentially in real time, or every 5 minutes, if there is a live virus in the air.”

How It Works

The team combined expertise in biosensing with knowhow in designing instruments that measure the toxicity of air. The resulting device is an air sampler that operates based on what’s called “wet cyclone technology.” Air is sucked into the sampler at very high speeds and is then mixed centrifugally with a fluid containing a nanobody that recognizes the spike protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. That fluid, which lines the walls of the sampler, creates a surface vortex that traps the virus aerosols. The wet cyclone sampler has a pump that collects the fluid and sends it to the biosensor for detection of the virus using electrochemistry.

The success of the instrument is linked to the extremely high velocity it generates - the monitor has a flow rate of about 1,000 liters per minute - allowing it to sample a much larger volume of air over a 5-minute collection period than what is possible with currently available commercial samplers. It’s also compact - about one foot wide and 10 inches tall - and lights up when a virus is detected, alerting users to increase airflow or circulation in the room.

Testing the Monitor

To test the monitor, the team placed it in the apartments of two Covid-positive patients. The real-time air samples from the bedrooms were then compared with air samples collected from a virus-free control room. The device detected the RNA of the virus in the air samples from the bedrooms but did not detect any in the control air samples.

In laboratory experiments that aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 into a room-sized chamber, the wet cyclone and biosensor were able to detect varying levels of airborne virus concentrations after only a few minutes of sampling, according to the study.

“We are starting with SARS-CoV-2, but there are plans to also measure influenza, RSV, rhinovirus and other top pathogens that routinely infect people,” Cirrito said. “In a hospital setting, the monitor could be used to measure for staph or strep, which cause all kinds of complications for patients. This could really have a major impact on people’s health.”

The Washington University team is now working to commercialize the air quality monitor."

-via Forbes, July 11, 2023

-

Holy shit. I know it's still early in the technology and more testing will inevitably be needed but holy shit.

Literally, if it bears out, this could revolutionize medicine. And maybe let immunocompromised people fucking go places again

Also, for those who don't know, Nature Communications is a very prestigious scientific journal that focuses on Pretty Big Deal research. Their review process is incredibly rigorous. This is an absolutely HUGE credibility boost to this research and prototype

#covid #covid 19 #pandemic #plague #rsv #influenza #the flu #science and technology #medical research #medical technology #biochemistry #immunology #good news #hope #hope posting

[markscherz]

🐸🚨New Frog Just Dropped!🚨🐸

Meet the ✨Most Beautiful Tree Frog✨, Guibemantis pulcherrimus, a new species described by my colleagues and me in the journal Zootaxa this week. The scientific name 'pulcherrimus' literally means 'most beautiful'. It's a close relative of Guibemantis pulcher (just 'beautiful', ha!), but has more little spots and less pronounced lateral blotches. It's found in the northeast of Madagascar, where it lives in Pandanus screw-palms.

#zoology #science #animals #beautiful #frogs #Guibemantis #Guibemantis pulcherrimus #the most beautiful frog #like if you agree #reblog if you disagree #save as PDF and email to your grandmother to share the good news #fax to your nearest Bureau of Outdated Technology to make sure they don't miss out

[pilloclock]

FREE CONGO 🇨🇩

We have to talk about Congo as well, they are so in need of our awareness that they’re setting themselves on fire because no one cares enough !

#free Congo #news #current news #current events #educate yourself #stay informed #the democratic republic of Congo #fire #free oppressed people #Congolese #blm #black lives matter #black people matter #boycott apple #boycott Samsung #boycott technology #pro palestine

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

So, in Brazilian feminism and technology news, the Chamber of Deputies has approved a bill that criminalizes the creation and sharing of nude images and videos created by artificial intelligence.

The text, authored by deputy Erika Kokay (Workers' Party) and reported by deputy Luisa Canziani (Social Democratic Party), sets a penalty of 1 to 4 years in prison, in addition to a fine, for anyone who creates or disseminates “montages or modifications that aim to include a person in a nude scene or sexual act, including the use of artificial intelligence in video, audio or photography."

The bill now heads to the Senate.

(x)

#brazil #brazilian politics #politics #feminism #technology #artificial intelligence #erika kokay #luisa canziani #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt #translations and summaries #good news

[daily-spooky]

#funny #lol #haha #humor #meme #memes #tweet #twitter #funny memes #goth #gothic #spooky #facts #pale #grunge #alternative #soft grunge #dank memes #dark humor #news #movies #tv shows #technology #apple #iphone

[doydoune]

he'll never learn

#(in miles' voice) wright have you heard about this brand new technology called an ORGANIZER #it happens every time they leave the courtoom #those two dumb lawyers smh #dounart #ace attorney #aa #ace attorney fanart #aa fanart #pheonix wright #miles edgeworth #art #fanart #narumitsu #if you squint #wrightworth

[hope-for-the-planet]

It took 90 days for the fungi to degrade 27 per cent of the plastic tested, and about 140 days to completely break it down, after the samples were exposed to ultraviolet rays or heat.

Chemical engineering professor Ali Abbas, who supervised the research team, said the findings were significant.

"It's the highest degradation rate reported in the literature that we know in the world," the professor said. 

From ABC News Australia

#plastic #plastic pollution #plastic recycling #trash #environment #hope #good news #technology #science #ecoanxiety #environmental grief #environmental anxiety #ecogrief

[fras-redacted-shapes]

Paranatural women and their sidekicks!

is it just me or so they have the same hairstyles?

#FBC coffee is disgusting actually #casey gets the uncool mug too #alan wake 2 #saga anderson #alex casey #jesse faden #emily pope #control remedy #control 2019 #control game #remedy games #remedy connected universe #artists on tumblr #my art #fan art #fanart #control game fanart #alan wake fanart #very excited for all the new technological advances Remedy is doing #that way they can finally have more than ponytails headbuns and whatever emily's and casey's haircut is called lmao

[isaaclouisdv]

Dracula may have robbed Jonathan of any scrap of paper to his name but at least he overlooked his foldable chromebook laptop, upon which he writes us his little emails

#dracula daily #good thing Dracula is a boomer and doesn’t know the new fangled technologies

[sayruq]

#yemen #jerusalem #tel aviv #current events #palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #news on gaza #palestine news #news update #war news #war on gaza #al shifa hospital #gaza genocide #genocide #artificial intelligence #ai technology

[reasonsforhope]

Scientists have developed a new solar-powered system to convert saltwater into fresh drinking water which they say could help reduce dangerous the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera.

Via tests in rural communities, they showed that the process is more than 20% cheaper than traditional methods and can be deployed in rural locations around the globe.

Building on existing processes that convert saline groundwater to freshwater, the researchers from King’s College London, in collaboration with MIT and the Helmholtz Institute for Renewable Energy Systems, created a new system that produced consistent levels of water using solar power, and reported it in a paper published recently in Nature Water.

It works through a process called electrodialysis which separates the salt using a set of specialized membranes that channel salt ions into a stream of brine, leaving the water fresh and drinkable. By flexibly adjusting the voltage and the rate at which salt water flowed through the system, the researchers developed a system that adjusts to variable sunshine while not compromising on the amount of fresh drinking water produced.

Using data first gathered in the village of Chelleru near Hyderabad in India, and then recreating these conditions of the village in New Mexico, the team successfully converted up to 10 cubic meters, or several bathtubs worth of fresh drinking water. This was enough for 3,000 people a day with the process continuing to run regardless of variable solar power caused by cloud coverage and rain.

[Note: Not sure what metric they're using to calculate daily water needs here. Presumably this is drinking water only.]

Dr. Wei He from the Department of Engineering at King’s College London believes the new technology could bring massive benefits to rural communities, not only increasing the supply of drinking water but also bringing health benefits.

“By offering a cheap, eco-friendly alternative that can be operated off the grid, our technology enables communities to tap into alternative water sources (such as deep aquifers or saline water) to address water scarcity and contamination in traditional water supplies,” said He.

“This technology can expand water sources available to communities beyond traditional ones and by providing water from uncontaminated saline sources, may help combat water scarcity or unexpected emergencies when conventional water supplies are disrupted, for example like the recent cholera outbreaks in Zambia.”

In the global rural population, 1.6 billion people face water scarcity, many of whom are reliant on stressed reserves of groundwater lying beneath the Earth’s surface.

However, worldwide 56% of groundwater is saline and unsuitable for consumption. This issue is particularly prevalent in India, where 60% of the land harbors undrinkable saline water. Consequently, there is a pressing need for efficient desalination methods to create fresh drinking water cheaply, and at scale.

Traditional desalination technology has relied either on costly batteries in off-grid systems or a grid system to supply the energy necessary to remove salt from the water. In developing countries’ rural areas, however, grid infrastructure can be unreliable and is largely reliant on fossil fuels...

“By removing the need for a grid system entirely and cutting reliance on battery tech by 92%, our system can provide reliable access to safe drinking water, entirely emission-free, onsite, and at a discount of roughly 22% to the people who need it compared to traditional methods,” He said.

The system also has the potential to be used outside of developing areas, particularly in agriculture where climate change is leading to unstable reserves of fresh water for irrigation.

The team plans to scale up the availability of the technology across India through collaboration with local partners. Beyond this, a team from MIT also plans to create a start-up to commercialize and fund the technology.

“While the US and UK have more stable, diversified grids than most countries, they still rely on fossil fuels. By removing fossil fuels from the equation for energy-hungry sectors like agriculture, we can help accelerate the transition to Net Zero,” He said.

-via Good News Network, April 2, 2024

#water #water scarcity #clean water #saline #desalination #off grid #battery technology #solar power #solar energy #fossil fuels #water shortage #india #hyderabad #new mexico #united states #uk #united kingdom #good news #hope #aquifers

[sporesgalaxy]

no animal is evil

#adddna #theyre all just trying to survive and the rapid technological development of humanity has made it difficult-- #--for evolution to keep up with new man-made stimuli and environmental changes.

[thesearethedaysofmylife]

#memes #fresh memes #dankest memes #funny content #funny tumblr #best memes #new memes #relatable memes #lol memes #tumblr memes #funny memes #memesdaily #dank memes #meme #funny relatable #relatable content #tech #technology

[nyc-looks]

Skye, 21

“My loafers are Dr. Marten, skirt I got at the Manhattan Vintage show, button-down is Uniqlo, cardigan is Heaven by Marc Jacobs, blazer is my mom’s and vintage Ralph Lauren, and bag is Los Angeles Appeal but when they were American Apparel. My style philosophy: Wait for pieces that call to you rather than what the industry is trying to push on you. Curate your own wardrobe thoughtfully.”

Mar 29, 2023 ∙ Chelsea

#nyc looks #street style #street snap #street fashion #style #fashion #clothes #outfit #trends #lookbook #new yorker #fit student #fashion institute of technology #heaven by marc jacobs #vintage ralph lauren #blue hair #leather skirt #los angeles apparel #american apparel

[yodaprod]

Hitachi (1985)

#vcr #vhs #video #technology #new york city #new york #nyc #world trade center #wtc #empire state building #1980s #80s #80's #1985