Author Archives: Charles Brass

Researchers from the University of Oxford say they’ve developed a new, “multi-junction” technique to create a solar material that’s so thin it can be printed directly onto the surface of everyday objects, from cars, and smartphones, to backpacks. The findings … Continued

Tiny Trailblazers Life, uh, finds a way — and apparently, so does a jumble of little strings of simple code. In an experiment that simulated what would happen if you left a bunch of random data alone for millions of … Continued

In the ever-evolving landscape of material science, a groundbreaking discovery has emerged that may redefine the boundaries of what’s possible with elemental materials. Dubbed “goldene,” this new material is the world’s thinnest gold leaf, measuring a mere single atom in thickness. … Continued

A team of researchers has found microplastics in all 40 semen samples they examined from healthy men, highlighting the urgent need to study how these tiny particles could affect human reproduction. In a paper published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, researchers … Continued

Researchers are increasingly suspicious that a powerful collision between the Earth and a Mars-sized object dubbed Theia some 4.5 billion years ago may have left “mysterious blobs” buried deep within Earth’s interior — an impact so violent that it ejected enough material … Continued

A collaboration of scientists from various universities in the UK and Europe have stored and retrieved data from quantum computers, marking a “crucial connection for ‘quantum internet,’” in a global first. This is an essential step in quantum networking as … Continued

Researchers from the University of California, Merced, have made strides in developing a novel material with adaptive durability, inspired by the unique behavior of cornstarch in cooking. This innovative material toughens up when subjected to hits or stretches, offering enhanced … Continued

In a groundbreaking development, scientists have achieved a significant milestone in building a “quantum internet” by creating a network of “quantum memories” operating at room temperature. The researchers successfully stored and retrieved two photonic qubits – quantum bits made from … Continued

Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have introduced a groundbreaking system that can convert silent thoughts into text without invasive procedures, offering a transformative communication method for people with speech impairments. The technology combines a wearable EEG cap … Continued

Ready for some more data-driven optimism?   Today, I’ll be sharing charts showing how the world is improving across several dimensions, including rising worldwide democracy and freedom, higher levels of literacy, and even falling homicide rates.   Again, it’s essential … Continued

Before Homo sapiens could even evolve, new research suggests that our ancient ancestors were faced with near-total extinction. A study published in the journal Science found genomic evidence of a staggering population implosion of an unknown human predecessor 900,000 years ago. After some mysterious catastrophe, … Continued

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has spotted an early yet tantalizing piece of evidence that an exoplanet some 120 light years away could be covered in a massive ocean — that’s possibly harboring life. The telescope detected a molecule called dimethyl sulfide (DMS) — … Continued

Feeling anxious about going to school? A school district in Kumamoto, Japan thinks it might have a solution. According to the Japanese newspaper The Mainichi, the southwestern Japanese city will soon allow some students to attend class via telepresence robot in a … Continued

The chip’s components work in a way similar to synapses in human brains. Tech corporation IBM has unveiled a new “prototype” of an analog AI chip that works like a human brain and performs complex computations in various deep neural … Continued