Saving the International Space Station is Not Worth It

Yes, it needs to come down and it was a prototype system solving all sorts of problems.

Now is likely too soon, but we do need my Space bicycle wheel system built as big as possible.  A spinning wheel will be dynamically stable when hit by debris and can produce a one g faux gravity along the rim.  Also easily repaired as well.

The real pay off will be when this wheel is duplicated to open a void between the two spoke planes.  Thin fabric can be used to seal off the ends and we now have a spinning balloon wheel holding shirt sleeve atmosphere.

Perfect place to assemble starships.

Saving the International Space Station is Not Worth It

July 22, 2024 by Brian Wang

People have proposed saving the International Space Station. They think it cost about $200 billion to build it. However, most of those costs were the $1-2 billion spent for each Space shuttle launch. Those are sunk costs. It now costs an additional $1.3 billion per year to keep the Space Station operating. The parts were designed to last 30 years and some of the parts are now 32 years old.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/07/saving-the-international-space-station-is-not-worth-it.html#more-196711

Raising the space station to higher has technical risks, large costs and space impact risks. Deorbiting the space station at the end of its life is the safest and only viable method to decommission this historic symbol of science, technology, and collaboration. Saving the space station could easily cost $5-10 billion instead of the less than $1 billion to safely de-orbit. The Space Station that was saved would still need costly maintenance and it would not be designed for the new age of the SpaceX Starship. It would be far more valuable to start fresh with many new, bigger and better space stations for less cost.

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Raising the Space Station orbits would require the development of new propulsive and tanker vehicles that do not currently exist. While still currently in development, vehicles such as the SpaceX Starship are being designed to deliver significant amounts of cargo to these orbits; however, there are prohibitive engineering challenges with docking such a large vehicle to the space station and being able to use its thrusters while remaining within space station structural margins. Other vehicles would require both new certifications to fly at higher altitudes and multiple flights to deliver propellant.

The other major consideration when going to a higher altitude is the orbital debris regime at each specified locale. Going above 415km has a lot more risk. Everything is old and more likely to break. why spend billions for this?

Raising the Space Station orbits would require the development of new propulsive and tanker vehicles that do not currently exist. While still currently in development, vehicles such as the SpaceX Starship are being designed to deliver significant amounts of cargo to these orbits; however, there are prohibitive engineering challenges with docking such a large vehicle to the space station and being able to use its thrusters while remaining within space station structural margins. Other vehicles would require both new certifications to fly at higher altitudes and multiple flights to deliver propellant.

The other major consideration when going to a higher altitude is the orbital debris regime at each specified locale. The risk of a penetrating or catastrophic impact to space station (i.e., that could fragment the vehicle) increases drastically above 257miles (415km). While higher altitudes provide a longer theoretical orbital life, the mean time between an impact event decreases from ~51 years at the current operational altitude to less than four years at a 497 mile (800km), ~700-year orbit. This means that the likelihood of an impact leaving station unable to maneuver or react to future threats, or even a significant impact resulting in complete fragmentation, is unacceptably high. NASA has estimated that such an impact could permanently degrade or even eliminate access to LEO for centuries.

Shock discovery reveals deep sea nodules are a source of oxygen

This is really interesting and may be the cause of creation of these nodules.  No one else has come up with an explanation i am aware of.

Understand that the elements engaged all support  battery formation and this would be happening at the molecular level.  with a huge internal surface area as well, we may have a self propagating battery that produces excess oxygen as its by product while absorbing hydrogen or powering an ongoing reaction with sea water. .

Nodules need a really deep look, folks.  I cannot dismiss the idea that nodules are self forming battery machines using available ionic energy from sea water.

Shock discovery reveals deep sea nodules are a source of oxygen

Sea-floor nodules raise oxygen levels in the deep ocean, suggesting they may have a valuable role in ecosystems and adding to concerns about the impact of deep-sea mining

By Madeleine Cuff

22 July 2024

A nodule from the seabed being tested in a lab

Camille Bridgewater (2024)

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2440460-shock-discovery-reveals-deep-sea-nodules-are-a-source-of-oxygen/?

Metallic nodules scattered across the seabed in the Indian and Pacific oceans are a source of oxygen for nearby marine life – a finding that could upend our understanding of the deep ocean.

Abyssal plains in some regions are scattered with potato-sized nodules packed with valuable cobalt, manganese and nickel, a target for deep-sea mining activity.

Andrew Sweetman at the Scottish Association for Marine Science in Oban, UK, first noticed something strange about these ocean areas back in 2013, while conducting research in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a nodule-rich part of the Pacific Ocean.

Sweetman and his colleagues were sending machines down to the ocean floor to seal off a 22 centimetre square patch of seabed and measure its oxygen flux. Instead of oxygen content decreasing in the monitored sections, the data suggested it was increasing.

But without any noticeable plant life, that didn’t make sense, says Sweetman. “I’ve been taught from a very young age that oxygenated ecosystems are only possible through photosynthesis,” he says. His conclusion was that the machinery he was using was faulty. “I literally ignored the data,” he says.

Then, in 2021, Sweetman was on another research cruise in the Pacific and machines returned the same finding – increasing oxygen levels on the seabed. Using a different measurement approach yielded the same result.

“We were seeing the same oxygen production in these two different datasets,” says Sweetman. “And suddenly I realised that for the last eight or nine years I had been ignoring this hugely groundbreaking process.”

He and his colleagues deduced that the metallic nodules must be playing a role in raising the oxygen levels in the deep sea. Lab testing, which involved poisoning the sediment and nodules, ruled out the presence of oxygen-producing microbes.

Instead, Sweetman says the materials in the nodules are acting as a “geobattery”, generating an electric current that splits seawater into hydrogen and oxygen. “These nodules are being mined because there’s everything there that you need to make an electric car battery,” he says. “What if they are acting as natural geobatteries, by themselves?”

Each nodule can produce up to 1 volt of electric potential, the team discovered by probing the rocks. If the rocks were clustered together to join forces, there would be enough voltage to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis, explaining the elevated oxygen levels.

“Potentially we have discovered a new natural source of oxygen,” says Sweetman. “How pervasive that is in time and space, I don’t know. But it’s something that’s very, very interesting.”

There are many outstanding questions. For example, the source of energy generating the electric current remains a mystery. It is also unclear whether the reaction happens continuously, under what conditions and the contribution this oxygen plays in sustaining surrounding ecosystems. “We don’t have all of the information yet, but we know it’s happening,” says Sweetman.

In deep-sea environments devoid of sunlight and plants, some life forms get their energy from chemicals that erupt from the sea floor at hydrothermal vents. Some scientists think life on Earth first appeared at these vents, but these early organisms would have needed a source of oxygen to make food from inorganic compounds. The findings raise the possibility that nodules could have been the source of that oxygen to help life get started, says Sweetman.

That interpretation might be a stretch, says Donald Canfield at the University of Southern Denmark. Oxygen is needed to produce the manganese oxide contained in the nodules, he points out. “Oxygenic photosynthesis is a prerequisite for their production,” he says. “For this reason, oxygen production by the nodules does not represent an alternative type of oxygen production to be equated with oxygenic photosynthesis. It is very unlikely that they have played a role in the oxygenation of the planet.”

However, Ruth Blake at Yale University says the idea of oxygen production in the deep ocean is still “exciting” and warrants more research into the phenomenon and its potential impact on deep-ocean ecosystems.

Sweetman’s study was part-funded by The Metals Company (TMC), a deep-sea mining company looking to harvest metallic nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone. In response to the study, Patrick Downes at TMC said he has “serious reservations” about the findings, adding that its own analysis suggests Sweetman’s results are due to oxygen contamination from external sources. “We will be writing a rebuttal article,” Downes said in a statement to New Scientist.

However, the findings are likely to strengthen calls for a ban on deep-sea mining, a position backed by many oceanographers who say our understanding of such areas is still developing. Paul Dando at the UK’s Marine Biological Association says the paper reinforces the view of deep-sea scientists “that no mining should take place until we understand the ecology of these nodule fields”.

Sweetman says his findings aren’t necessarily “the nail in the coffin” for deep-sea mining, but it might restrict extraction to locations where oxygen production is low. More research is also needed to investigate the impact of sediment stirred up by the mining process on the oxygen production, he says.

Digging Holes at The Beach Can Be Deadly, And Many People Don't Realize

Sand on a slope is not safe.  This reminds us just how close the tolerances are.  Do not dig out a two foot deep trench in which to lay.  Kids will do this.

Construction pits kill, which is why steel cages are now drop-ed in to any hole.

None of all that is bound, even if well packed, and the process of excavation starts a slow stress release that can ultimately cave.  Coal mines and hard rock do fall on miners heads.  Unconsolidated material is actually deadly when looking safe.

So sand on a beach can be turned into a death trap0 with little effort and a lack of awareness.

Digging Holes at The Beach Can Be Deadly, And Many People Don't Realize

21 July 2024

By STEPHEN P. LEATHERMAN, THE CONVERSATION

(Sarah Moesta/Getty Images)

While millions of Americans vacation on beaches every year to seek out sun, sand and the sea, many might not realize how dangerous digging holes in the sand can be.

In February 2024, a 7-year-old girl died after an approximately 5-foot (1.5-meter) hole she and her brother dug in the sand collapsed in on her, burying her alive.

As a coastal science researcher who's been studying beaches for many years, I was called in to help investigate the girl's death. While many people nearby stepped in to try to free the girl after the sand hole collapsed, local firefighters couldn't arrive until several minutes after the incident – too late to resuscitate the victim.

A young girl suffocated in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Fla., after a sand hole collapsed on her in February.

Digging holes in sand might seem innocent, but if the hole is deep enough and collapses on a person, it is extremely difficult to escape. In fact, research suggests more people die from sand burial suffocation than from shark attacks.

Sand basics

Sand isn't actually a type of material. It's a category of material size, ranging from 0.0025 to 0.08 inches (0.06 to 2 millimeters) in diameter. The type of sand is determined by the materials making it up. Quartz sand, made up of silicon dioxide, is the most common sand found on beaches, except at tropical coasts where coral sand beaches, made up of calcium carbonate, are found.

Material coarser than sand is not soft to the touch – it doesn't make sturdy sandcastles. Silt and clay, which are finer than sand, make water murky and are commonly called mud.

Sand's weight depends on the materials it's made of. Pure quartz sand beaches, which have very white sand, weigh around 90 pounds per cubic foot when dry.

But most beaches contain a mixture of minerals, creating a tan or brown appearance. The minerals that darken the sand are much heavier – sand on most beaches would weigh up to 130 pounds per cubic foot when dry.

Dry, loose grains of sand will form a pile with a slope angle of about 33 degrees, termed its angle of repose. The angle of repose is the steepest angle at which a pile of grains remains stable, and the force of friction between each grain determines that stability.

The angle of repose describes the slope of a pile of sand. (Davius/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA)

Sand is more stable when it's wet because the surface tension between water and sand grains can hold the pile of sand in place vertically. But once it dries, the pile will collapse, as there's no more surface tension.

So if you dig a hole in the beach, it'll stay stable for as long as the sand stays moist. Once it dries, the hole collapses.

Sand is unstable

When either the sand forming the hole dries out or someone stands near the edge of the hole, adding extra weight, the sand hole collapses in, and the heavy grains fill all open spaces in the hole. This leaves no air available for a trapped person to breathe.

While skiers trapped in avalanches can cup their hands to form an air pocket because snow is light, but that's not the case when sand collapses.

Rescuing someone from a collapsed sand hole is very difficult because sand is both heavy and unstable. As rescuers scoop away sand to free the victim, the hole will continue to collapse under the rescuers' weight and refill with sand. Rescuers have only about three to five minutes to save a person who is trapped in a sand hole before they suffocate.

Professionals like firefighters will place boards across the hole when rescuing someone from a sand hole collapse. This way, they can reach down and use tools to remove the sand without putting any weight directly on the edge of the hole.

Experts recommend never digging a hole deeper than the knee height of the shortest person in your group – with 2 feet (0.6 meters) being the maximum depth.

To rescue someone in a collapsing sand hole, focus on exposing their mouth and removing sand from on top of their chest. If you expose their mouth, you can administer rescue breathing while other rescuers continue digging out their chest.

Too many people crowding a sand hole rescue can cause more harm than good. Just two or three rescuers should work in the victim's immediate area while others work on clearing sand away from the wider excavation area, which makes it easier for those in the center to remove sand. The people on the outer perimeter can clear sand away from the central area using anything available, from buckets and shovels to beach chairs and boogie boards.

A sand hole from a collapse in New Jersey. (Stephen Leatherman)

Case studies

Collapsing sand holes led to 31 deaths, mostly kids and 87% male, from 1997 to 2007 in the U.S. During that period, 21 others were in a reported sand hole collapse but survived, though many required CPR.

Victims of sand hole collapse have ranged in age from 3 to 21 years. The holes were generally 2 to 15 feet (0.6 to 4.6 meters) in diameter and 2 to 12 feet (0.6 to 3.7 meters) deep. Digging, tunneling, jumping and falling into the hole have all inadvertently triggered collapse.

These collapses can happen suddenly, and in situations that don't seem dangerous to most. During your next trip to the beach, make sure to keep an eye out for sand holes and fill all holes as soon as possible. Even a shallow hole can injure someone who stumbles into it.

Why Complete Disorder Is Mathematically Impossible

This is way more important than we can imagine.  Because mathematical infinity does not exist in the empirical universe, all the content is naturally described by finite geometry.

This means the universe bis described as an ocean of repeating 3D patterns we do not properly imagine yet but can sense through Platonic solids naturally forming up our so called Matrix of ultimately neutron pairs.

suddenly you realize those are also the only possible patterns.  Instead of disorder, we have the MATRIX

Each week Quanta Magazine explains one of the most important ideas driving modern research. This week, our math editor Jordana Cepelewicz, discusses Ramsey theory, the mathematical study of how order inevitably emerges from chaos.

Why Complete Disorder Is Mathematically Impossible

By JORDANA CEPELEWICZ

When he died in 1930 at just 26 years old, Frank Ramsey had already made transformative contributions to philosophy, economics and mathematics. John Maynard Keynes sought his insights; Ludwig Wittgenstein admired him and considered him a close friend. In his lifetime, Ramsey published only eight pages on pure math: the beginning of a paper about a problem in logic. But in that work, he proved a theorem that ultimately led to a whole new branch of mathematics — what would later be called Ramsey theory.

His theorem stated that if a system is large enough, then no matter how disordered it might be, it’s always bound to exhibit some sort of regular structure. Order inevitably emerges from chaos; patterns are unavoidable. Ramsey theory is the study of when this happens — in sets of numbers, in collections of vertices and edges called graphs, and in other systems. The mathematicians Ronald Graham and Joel Spencer likened it to how you can always pick out patterns among the stars in the night sky.

Problems in Ramsey theory look like this: Say you have a graph of five vertices, where each pair of vertices is connected by an edge. Can you color each edge red or blue in such a way that you don’t end up creating a red or blue triangle? Yes. But if you start with six or more vertices, you no longer can. You’re always guaranteed to have a monochromatic triangle, no matter how you color your edges.

Mathematicians use so-called Ramsey numbers to measure how big graphs must get before they inevitably contain such a monochromatic structure, or clique. The Ramsey number R(3) is 6, because a graph must have at least six vertices to guarantee the presence of a red or blue clique of size 3. But Ramsey numbers are notoriously difficult to prove. Mathematicians know that R(4) is 18, but they have yet to compute the exact value of R(5) and beyond.

Efforts to solve Ramsey-type problems have led mathematicians to develop some of their most important techniques, like the probabilistic method. Ramsey theory has also been applied to the study of communications networks, information transmission and more.

What’s New and Noteworthy

In the century since Ramsey inadvertently founded Ramsey theory, it’s been a particularly active area of research, with several major breakthroughs in just the past few years.

Last year, for instance, four mathematicians proved a new, more accurate upper bound on Ramsey numbers — the first advance of its kind since 1935. “I was floored” on hearing the news, one mathematician said. “I was literally shaking for half an hour to an hour.” Just a few months later, mathematicians made progress on estimates of asymmetric Ramsey numbers, which deal with graphs that are guaranteed to have red or blue cliques of different sizes. Mathematicians once again found this progress “completely shocking.”

Also shocking: Some of the mathematicians making headway on these problems are even younger than Ramsey was when he launched the field. In 2020, Quanta wrote about Ashwin Sah, now a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who as an undergraduate proved major results in Ramsey theory and related areas.

Many of these recent breakthroughs involve the study of graphs that grow infinitely large. But mathematicians are also still trying to make sense of small Ramsey numbers, which remain stubbornly elusive. And they’re not just looking for monochromatic cliques in graphs; they also want to analyze the emergence of other structures, like branching, treelike patterns, as well as loops called Hamiltonian cycles.

In fact, Ramsey theory isn’t just about inevitable patterns found in graphs. Hidden structure emerges in lists of numbers, strings of beads and even card games. In 2019, for example, mathematicians studied collections of sets that can always be arranged to resemble the petals of a sunflower. That same year, Quanta reported on research into sets of numbers that are guaranteed to contain numerical patterns called polynomial progressions. And last year, mathematicians proved a similar result, about sets of integers that must always include three evenly spaced numbers, called arithmetic progressions.

In its hunt for patterns, Ramsey theory gets to the core of what mathematics is all about: finding beauty and order in the most unexpected places.

Ultra-light electrostatic VTOL drone flies indefinitely in sunlight

Here comes the EV bumble bee that returns to its hive overnight and works everyday.  This sets the stage for blanket surveillance at a high resolution 

My comment is that this is something we want for agriculture.  not least to run off errant pigs.  the reality is that a global animal husbandry system needs full surveillance in order to be a complete solution.  All wild creatures need to all be tracked in case they need to be responded to.

We also want to largely restore some aspects of natural predation as well.  This cannot be done blind.  charging bears or cougars are not welcome.  and they are all now coming back because our harvesting pressure has dropped.

Ultra-light electrostatic VTOL drone flies indefinitely in sunlight

By Bronwyn Thompson

July 19, 2024

Computer generation that demonstrates how CouloumbFly's rotor ring powers for sustained flight

Beihang University

https://newatlas.com/drones/solar-electrostatic-drone/?

This remarkable miniature rotorcraft is so lightweight and efficient that it can lift its own mass given nothing but sunlight. The entire thing weighs about as much as four paperclips, and it can fly all day if the sun's shining.

Researchers at China's Beihang University and the Center of Advanced Aero-Engine, have unveiled CouloumbFly, a palm-sized miniature rotorcraft that weighs just 4.21 g (0.15 oz) – yet still boasts a rotor diameter of 20 cm (7.9 in), making it around 600 times lighter than any other comparable small solar-powered drone.

In tethered testing under natural sunlight conditions, CouloumbFly got itself airborne within a second and managed an hour of flight without power diminishing, before a mechanical failure brought it back down. Not much of a big deal if it was a glide-capable winged drone – but this is a miniature helicopter that's entirely responsible for generating its own lift, and managing that on solar energy alone is an extraordinary feat.

The key to its remarkable VTOL endurance is the propulsion system: an insanely lightweight, stripped-back electric motor weighing just 1.52 g (0.054 oz) that drives the 0.44-g (0.02-oz) top rotor. Effectively, those flappy-looking foil-covered tabs hanging around the outside of the airframe are the positive and negative stator plates of an electrostatic motor, and the rotor is the fence-like series of 64 thinner vertical tabs in behind the stator plates.

Graphic demonstrating the drone's power system

Qi, M et al/Nature

"When a rotor blade contacts a brush of an electrode plate, a capacitor between the rotor and the next electrode plate will be formed, mainly determining the amount of charge the rotor blade can transfer each time," the researchers explained. "The charged rotor blade is subjected to electrostatic force in the electric field and moves towards the next electrode plate. When the rotor blade passes through the next electrode plate, charge exchange occurs, and the polarity of the rotor blade and the direction of the electrostatic field change simultaneously, which ensures that the driving torque on the whole rotor remains consistent for continuous rotation of the electrostatic motor."

These kinds of electrostatic motors, which harness electrostatic fields instead of magnetic fields for motion, are more often seen used as sensors in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). But they're perfect in this application, since they jettison all the weight of magnetic coils and rotors.

Beyond the top rotor and the electrostatic motor, there's precious little else to it. The base of the drone holds two whisper-thin solar panels, each maybe an inch and a half (4 cm) square. These generate about 4.5 volts under sunlight, which is fed through a 12-stage voltage multiplier and transformer – which you can see balancing out the solar panels – to step that 4.5 V up closer to 9,000 V, which is then sent into the stator panels. The rest of it's basically just toothpick-thin frame rods and a shaft for the top rotor to sit on.

"In the experiment, we conducted a durability test on the vehicle for one hour, and the vehicle remained in sustained flight throughout the test," said the researchers. "The subsequent experimental results show that the electrostatic motor can still work normally, and the performance remains stable after one hour of continuous operation. This experiment demonstrates electrostatic motors’ excellent stability and durability, providing a foundation for the future development of long-endurance MAVs."

While still in the early stages of development, the aircraft could ultimately be used for different kinds of sustained surveillance, communications and search-and-rescue operations.

This tiny solar-powered flyer weighs less than a paper plane

Mind you, it'll need some upgrades – not least among which is some sort of flight control system. The researchers now hope to increase the tiny drone's payload, in order for it to be able to be equipped with small sensors and controllers (at present, it could only accommodate around 1.59 g (0.056 oz) of additional payload). What's more, the drones would essentially be so small they'd be difficult to see or track with current technology.

However, the researchers admit there is some way to go, with the technology facing limitations with sunlight availability and humidity.

"In the future, the vehicle can be powered by a combination of rechargeable batteries and solar cells, potentially enabling 24-hour flying operations," the engineers noted. "This solution can also enhance the environmental adaptability of the vehicle, allowing it to maintain flight in low-light-intensity or even no-light conditions."

Wind energy blows away coal-fired power in the US

Lo and behold ,wind energy capture has become a real thing and now can surpass our remaining coal plant.  All this works best with natural gas turbines, simply because they can also turn on quickly.

Of course battery plants will soon fill all the likely gaps.

Amazingly great battery tech is necessary for EVs and also for stretching our built resource.

Then we can still do atmospheric pressure towers.  Our civilization will not be ever running out of power.

Wind energy blows away coal-fired power in the US

By Joe Salas

July 21, 2024

Renewable wind energy blows away coal-fired power in March and April of 2024

Good news for planet Earth, at least as far as the data shows for the United States. According to the US Energy Information Administration, in the five years from 2019 to 2024, in March and April specifically, electricity production using wind power has almost doubled, significantly outdoing generation from coal-fired power plants in the US.

Data shows wind produced about 25.8 GWh in March 2019 and 29 GWh in April 2019, jumping to 45.9 and 47.6 GWh in March and April of this year, respectively. In that same period, coal-produced electricity has dropped from about 80 and 60 GWh in March and April of 2019, respectively, down to roughly 38.3 and 37.2 GWh in 2024.

That's a whopping 28% more wind power than coal power for those two months in 2024 compared to 2019. And charting monthly data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) over the last 22 years shows a remarkable drop in coal-fired energy to accompany a steady rise from wind:

Monthly data on total energy production from coal-fired power plants vs wind turbines in the USA shows that wind has finally overtaken coal for the first time

US Energy Information Administration

Mind you, once you include other energy sources the picture's a lot less pretty; the decline in coal has been taken up largely by natural-gas-fired plants. Natural gas burns a lot cleaner than coal, and thus has been viewed as a kind of "diet fossil fuel" in the race to decarbonize.

Unfortunately, this view oversimplifies the issue. Natural gas is mostly methane, and it has plenty of chances to exert an extremely powerful greenhouse effect (more than 80 times stronger than CO2 over a 20-year timespan) on the atmosphere before it gets burned. It leaks into the open air at the drill site, and at poorly-sealed pipeline joints. And it's deliberately vented or flared into the atmosphere during the practical operation of wells, pipes and other infrastructure. We're not talking small amounts, either – it's around 8% of all methane produced, according to some estimates.

On the other hand, many natural-gas-fired plants can eventually be converted to burn various percentages of green hydrogen as fuel, up to 100% in some cases, so there's a potential pathway to decarbonization there, where no such pathway exists for a coal-fired plant.

Zooming out to see more energy sources tells a different story, about the rise of natural gas-fired energy

US Energy Information Administration

Crunching the numbers again, we can treat coal and gas as fossil fuels energy, and combine nuclear, hydro, wind and solar as "clean energy" – ignoring some inconvenient issues with things like hydro, which uses so much cement in its dam walls that it can take decades for a hydro plant to become a climate-positive investment.

Here, the picture looks a lot more positive again:

Fossil-fuelled energy vs clean energy in the United states since 2002

US Energy Information Administration

Why is this good news?

With electricity demands on the rise by the minute, renewable sources of electricity are becoming more and more critical to continue to power our increasingly technology-dependent day-to-day lives with less impact on air, land and water quality.

Record-setting high temperatures have ravaged the United States this July and the need for electricity is at an all-time high, especially as the need to kick on the AC is rising with the temperatures.

On July 7th, 2024, Death Valley, California cranked up the heat to a crayon-melting 129 °F (53.9 °C). For the meat-eaters out there, that's a pretty ideal internal temperature for a medium-rare steak and only 5 °F (2.8 °C) shy of the hottest ever temperature recorded on Earth (ironically, in Furnace Creek, Death Valley back in 1913). Also on July 7th, 2024 and a state away, Las Vegas, Nevada set its all-time record temperature of 120 °F (48.9 °C). The very next day, Palm Springs, California recorded a searing 122 °F (50 °C), the highest ever recorded temp on any July 8th in US history.

Temperatures records around the globe continue to be broken

freepik

The need to keep us cool isn't the only high-energy consumption area that's growing. AI technologies are extremely power-hungry. GPUs (Graphics Processing Unit), the same tech that gamers use for the best graphics and fastest frames per second) are what's used to compute all the complex tasks AI requires to function. GPUs use about four times as much power and produce more heat than conventional CPUs (central processing units, your computer's brain), meaning the data centers that house them require better cooling systems as well. Effectively, more intelligence requires more power.

If a hyperscale data center were to swap out all its conventional CPUs for GPUs, it could quadruple its immediate power needs up as high as 400-600 MW. The average nuclear power plant produces 1,000 MW or 1 GW. These aren't small numbers. The average US household uses 10.5 MW/h per year.

Cryptocurrencies also use GPUs in huge data centers for calculating complex math equations to validate transactions, consuming copious amounts of electricity. A single mining machine capable of running 'efficiently' can use nearly as much power as your home AC unit per day. As of now, 60% of bitcoin transactions alone rely on non-renewable energy; primarily coal. That doesn't take into account the thousands of other coins that currently exist and the thousands more that will pop up in the near future.

The International Energy Agency released a publication this year stating that it expects data center energy demands will at least double from 2022 to 2026.

The rise of clean energies like wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, ocean tidal and wave energy, and even ocean thermal energy conversion, are taking away the demand to burn fossil fuels that can take hundreds of millions of years to replenish themselves, if ever. Not to mention, over one-third of all global CO2 emissions come from producing electricity.

Global energy production by type

Created with AI tools

There are countries that do it better

In Norway, 98% of all electricity production comes from renewable sources, making it a global leader. Nearly all of Norway's power comes from its 1,600 hydroelectric power stations, while wind power accounts for about 10% of the total.

Nearly 50% of all electricity produced in China for China comes from renewables. In fact, China has the world's largest installations of renewable power generation like wind, solar and tidal and wave power and accounts for about 31% of the entire world's renewable energy production. It has nearly as much solar power as all other countries combined. China even recently built a twin-rotor floating wind turbine that can harness hurricane-force winds for electricity production.

Qin Haiyan, the secretary-general of the Chinese Wind Energy Association, says that clean energy, including wind power, is preferred over fossil fuels in China, not simply because of the 'green' factor, but because it's less expensive compared to traditional fossil fuels like coal.

Also this March, China produced over 100 TWh of wind power, as much as all of Europe and North America combined.

Roughly 60% of all electricity produced in the US comes from fossil fuels. For the US to produce 28% more wind power in March and April versus coal-fired power sounds like a step in the right direction but with a lot more work ahead of us.

Ovary Removal Linked to Potential Cognitive Decline: New Research

I want to say that the majority of surgical meddling is based on naive medical interpretation which can later be overturned.

The ultimate solution needs to encompass preservation.  Who has their tonsils out today, or appendix for that matter.  And root canals are also in decline.

Obviously an obvious cancer calls for removal.  The rest, not so much.  We so need to return to restoration as an operating principle

Ovary Removal Linked to Potential Cognitive Decline: New Research

For women not at increased risk of ovarian cancer, the procedure may be unnecessary and can harm brain white matter.

By Cara Michelle Miller

7/7/2024Updated:7/16/2024

https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/ovary-removal-linked-to-potential-cognitive-decline-new-research-5675762

Women considering ovary removal to prevent cancer face a trade-off. Early removal of both ovaries may damage white matter in the brain, potentially increasing the risk of cognitive decline. However, the exact reasons behind this are still unclear.

This may soon change, however.

In a study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, researchers have uncovered new insights into how the sudden loss of sex hormones following premenopausal ovary removal—known as premenopausal bilateral oophorectomy (PBO)—can harm brain structure and potentially lead to cognitive decline.

Neuroimaging Sheds Light on Brain Changes“We know that having both ovaries removed before natural menopause causes abrupt endocrine dysfunction, which increases the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia,” Michelle Mielke, lead author of the study and a professor and chair of epidemiology and prevention at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said in a statement. “But few neuroimaging studies have been conducted to better understand the underlying mechanisms.”

The research team analyzed data from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, a long-term research initiative that began in 2004. They identified just more than 1,000 women who had undergone diffusion tensor imaging, an MRI technique that assesses brain white matter integrity. Of them, 907 had not undergone premenopausal bilateral oophorectomy (PBO). The study participants were grouped as follows:22 women who underwent premenopausal bilateral oophorectomy (PBO) before age 40

43 women who underwent PBO at ages 40 to 45

39 women who underwent PBO at ages 46 to 49

907 women who did not undergo PBO before age 50Researchers found reduced white matter integrity in multiple brain regions among women who had the surgical procedure before age 40. Similar trends were observed in women who underwent PBO at ages 46 to 49. There were no differences in brain pathways for women who had PBO at ages 40 to 44 compared with women who didn’t have the procedure.

As many as 80 percent of participants who had their ovaries removed also had a history of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). However, despite the use of ERT by these women, their white matter integrity remained diminished.

This suggests that the loss of testosterone, rather than estrogen, plays a critical role in brain health, according to researchers.

Testosterone is a hormone primarily associated with male characteristics, but it’s also present in women in smaller amounts. In women, it’s produced by the ovaries and adrenal glands. Thus, according to the study, removing both ovaries leads to a sudden drop in testosterone production.

“Given the effects of testosterone on brain white matter, and the result in our study that most women who underwent PBO used ERT but still have reduced white matter integrity, it may be hypothesized that the explanation for our results is in part due to loss of testosterone,” the authors wrote. They emphasized the need for additional research to further understand how white matter changes relate to cognitive impairment.

Hormonal Influence on Brain StructureThe ovaries produce hormones both before and after menopause. Before menopause, they primarily produce estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. After menopause, they mainly produce testosterone and androstenedione.

“Having both ovaries removed results in an abrupt decrease in both estrogen and testosterone in women,” according to Ms. Mielke.

Throughout life, significant differences in white matter volume and integrity exist between men and women, primarily because of the influence of sex hormones. Men typically have larger white matter volumes than women, a difference that persists both before and after menopause.

Recent research involving transgender people and those with androgen insensitivity syndrome, a genetic disorder in men that does not allow them to produce male sex hormones, further demonstrates testosterone’s possible role in preserving white matter health.

The new study noted that female-to-male transgender people receiving testosterone therapy show increased white matter integrity.

“While these findings are important for women to consider before having premenopausal bilateral oophorectomy for non-cancerous conditions,” Ms. Mielke said in the statement, “we need a larger and more diverse cohort of women to validate these results.”

Reasons for Hysterectomy and Ovary RemovalAbout 500,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the United States, making it the second most common surgical procedure for women after cesarean delivery, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Most hysterectomies occur between the ages of 40 and 50.

An estimated 23 percent of women ages 40 to 44 and 45 percent of women ages 45 to 49 undergo bilateral oophorectomy for ovarian cancer prevention, including among those at average risk. Outside of cancer prevention, a woman may choose to have both ovaries removed if she has:A tubo-ovarian abscess: A pus-filled pocket involving a fallopian tube and ovary

Endometriosis: Growth of uterine-like tissue outside the uterus, often forming cysts (endometriomas) on the ovaries

Noncancerous ovarian tumors or cysts: Removal can prevent cysts from bursting and causing complications

Ovarian cancer: Oophorectomy is a treatment option

Ovarian torsion: Twisting of an ovaryAmong women who have undergone hysterectomy, about one-quarter of those ages 40 to 44 and nearly half of those ages 45 to 59 have also had their ovaries removed, according to a 2023 study published in Menopause.

Decision-Making for Ovarian Cancer RiskFor women at high risk of ovarian cancer, deciding to remove the ovaries before menopause as a preventive measure requires careful consideration of both benefits and risks. Genetic testing is recommended to identify high-risk mutations, such as BRCA (breast cancer gene), to help guide decisions about preventive surgery.

Women with BRCA1 mutations face a significantly higher risk of ovarian cancer compared with the general population, according to Columbia University Irvine Medical Center.

While the lifetime risk for the general population is about 1 percent, 35 percent to 45 percent of women with BRCA1 mutations may develop ovarian cancer.

Vast Space Station Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond

This is the first indication that anyone building a real space station must spin up artificial gravity.  the tub is possible but also chancy in terms of internal stresses.  My bicycle wheel system cam also have a thin elevator tube to the rim without been structurally integral

A bicycle wheel can have a one mile diameter and a a cover sheet on both sides to hold a working atmosphere inside the Rim perimeter.

Even starting with a thin hub and suspension cables, it is a lot of trips.  but can be done.  A one g rim gravity allows for long term occupation

Vast Space Station Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond

By Brian Wang

JUL 22

<a href="https://www.vastspace.com/updates">

Vast is a startup building commercial in-space habitation, research, and manufacturing facilities</a> to serve NASA, ESA, DLR, and other government space agencies around the globe, driving demand for affordable and sustainable space transportation to LEO. Founded in 2021, Vast is building Haven-1, the world’s first private space station slated to launch no earlier than August 2025. Vast is developing their future Haven space station to serve NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program. Vast’s long term goal is to build low-cost artificial gravity crewed stations so people can live and work in space for long periods of time without the adverse effects of zero-gravity.

Jed McCaleb is cryptocurrency billionaire behind Vast Space. Jed has a net worth of about $2.9 billion. Vast has a staff of over 120 people.

Beyond its Haven-1 space station, Vast has additional plans in the future to expand it by connecting it to a larger station that is also currently in development by Vast. There is different AI company called Vast Data. Vast Data has more funding and is a bigger company than Vast Space.

There are plans for a Starship-oriented variant of Haven-1, called the Starship-Class Module, that could be operational by as soon as 2028. In addition, Vast also has plans for a 110-meter spinning stick station by the 2030s and a fully-fledged proliferated station fleet by the 2040s.

The Starship class module would have 500 cubic meters of volume. This would be half the volume of the International Space Station.

The Artificial gravity (spinning) station would be over three times the volume of the ISS. This is seven of the Starship class modules connected end to end.

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4F8lnfDEMkg" title="Roadmap Artificial Gravity Station" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Tiny Blockages in The Brain's Plumbing Could Be Causing Migraines

Forever, we have had nothing to see here folks.  Now that has changed.  we really knew it was a physical issue that was unseen.     

As always so little can cause so much. folks suffer from these attacks which ultimately go away, then recur.

so now we have a starting point. .      

Tiny Blockages in The Brain's Plumbing Could Be Causing Migraines

HEALTH16 July 2024

ByJESS COCKERILL

Meningeal lymphatic vessels in a mouse brain shown in green. (Meningeal Lymphatics and Neurological Disorders Laboratory)

https://www.sciencealert.com/tiny-blockages-in-the-brains-plumbing-could-be-causing-migraines?

No one really knows the cause of migraine, but a number of studies have begun to piece together the mechanisms behind these headaches from hell.

There's evidence that short strings of amino acids called calcitonin gene-related peptides (CGRP) could be the evil puppeteers behind painful migraine attacks, with treatments targeting CGRP already on the market. There are also signs that malfunctioning fluid drainage systems in the brain might sometimes involved.

Now, a research team from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine has found evidence that CGRP could be directly involved in blocking the drainage of cerebrospinal fluid from the brain, creating the pressure and pain experienced during migraine.

"Our study has highlighted the importance of the brain's lymphatic system in the pathophysiology of migraine pain," says physiologist Kathleen Caron. "We found that migraine pain is influenced by altered interactions with immune cells and by CGRP preventing cerebrospinal fluid from draining out of the meningeal lymphatic vessels."

This typically handy neuropeptide is abundant in the layers of brain tissue called the meninges during migraine attacks. Through a series of tests on mice and their cultured cells, the researchers found CGRP not only transmits pain between neurons, it also blocks the flow of fluid from the brain's lymphatic system, which could account for the feelings of pressure associated with migraine.

In a mouse model of migraine induced by nitroglycerin, mice that were genetically modified to have no lymphatic CGRP receptors – essentially making them 'immune' to the neuropeptide – showed significantly reduced chronic migraine pain based on measures using a grimace scale.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is stored within the nervous system in a number of chambers that are connected through a complex plumbing network of meningeal lymphatic vessels. These vessels facilitate the flow of fluids to cerebral tissues in the same way a soaker hose delivers a trickle of water to each plant in a garden row. What's more, these lymphatic 'soakers' also deliver immune cells to the brain's protective covering, where they can patrol for pests and disease like tiny gardeners.

When the researchers injected CGRP directly into a crucial CSF reservoir in the brains of model-migraine mice, the pores along the MLVs zipped shut, causing the brain's plumbing to back up and significantly reducing the amount of CSF draining from the skull.

While this new research adds to the growing pile of evidence incriminating CGRP in migraine and especially migraine pain, it's still unclear exactly what sets off this system-wide breakdown. It does, however, help give a better idea of why anti-migraine therapies that target CGRP are effective, and where in the body they are making that difference.

Next on the agenda is figuring out whether these lymphatic system issues might help explain why there are over three times as many women who experience migraine than men.

"Since lymphatic dysfunction also exhibits a strong prevalence in women, it is tempting to speculate that neurological disorders like migraine could be governed by sex differences in the meningeal lymphatic vasculature," Caron says.

"If this were true, then new therapeutic strategies or drug targets that enhance meningeal lymphatic and glymphatic flow in women would be desirable."