39+ min ago (238+ words) Britain's DragonFire laser weapon upped the ante on November 20 at the Ministry of Defence's Hebrides Range in Scotland when the high-powered, solid-state laser for the Royal Navy shot down drones flying at 351 knots (404 mph, 650 km/h). According to the Ministry, the latest tests of DragonFire not only demonstrate its lethality against high-speed targets but also the rapid maturity of the program. Originally slated to see active service in 2032, it will now be installed in the Navy's Type 45 frigates by 2027 as part of the ship's regular armament. In addition to detecting, tracking, and shooting down drones flying at high-subsonic speeds, DragonFire also demonstrated new, advanced capabilities. These include not only the ability to hit a target the size of a "1 coin or US quarter at the distance of a kilometer (0.62 miles), but also a new above-the-horizon targeting capability. Until now DragonFire has…...

4+ hour, 39+ min ago (458+ words) In the first US study looking at whether the recommended fluoride levels in drinking water affects brain function, researchers have found that the hot-button mineral has no negative impacts on cognition " and may actually be giving it a boost. What they found was that kids who had been exposed to recommended levels of fluoride in drinking water " 0.7 and 1.2 mg/liter between 1962 and 2015, and 0.7 mg/L from 2015 to present " had, on average, higher scores across the board by their final school year. They came out on top in vocabulary, reading and math. The advantage, the researchers noted, continued through life until some participants were aged 60, however, the results were not statistically significant. "It is vitally important for the public " and people who influence public policy " to know that there is absolutely no'credible scientific evidence to support the claim that putting fluoride…...

12+ hour, 39+ min ago (327+ words) While lithium extraction technologies generally focus on ways to get the essential metal out of the ground, there's another source to mine: existing batteries that no longer work. A new technique could now make that process economically viable. Enter the new technique from scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. There, a team led by chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Xiao Su, has been spending time disassembling batteries and then submerging them in an organic solvent. This leads to a brine that contains lithium as well as other metals present in the batteries. To harvest the lithium, the team developed a special electrode created from a copolymer consisting of molecules that attach to lithium and those that respond to an electrical current. When placed inside the brine and electrified, it sucked only lithium from the solution like a sponge, leaving…...

16+ hour, 39+ min ago (418+ words) The Stickerbox from Brooklyn-based startup Hapiko turns your child's wildest ideas " a tiger eating ice-cream, or a lizard riding a skateboard " into printed stickers they can tear off immediately and color in using regular pencils and crayons. It uses a combination of AI models to make sense of the prompts and generate monochrome outlined illustrations, while a thermal printer spits out the artwork on BPA- and BPS-free paper. That's all there is to it, and it's kind of genius, really. The idea came from Hapiko co-founder Bob Whitney who recently found himself dusting off a desktop printer at home to make coloring pages based on his son's imaginative ideas. The compact Stickerbox " a 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) cube that fits on a child's desk " streamlines that entire process, and puts kids in control of the artistic output. The company says it's committed to…...

23+ hour, 19+ min ago (535+ words) It may surprise some to learn that Polaris has a serious research, development, and testing facility. One that rivals the kinds of equipment and know-how found at many full-scale automotive manufacturers. I got a full tour of the place, along with a dedicated test track that I got to use later. In the wee hours of the morning, I left my home in Wyoming and traveled 900 miles to Wyoming. It was then I learned that there is a town in Minnesota named Wyoming. It's also where Polaris has its headquarters for testing, and it was celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Slingshot three-wheeled autocar. I've driven the Slingshot several times. Back when it had an engine provided by General Motors, and now with an in-house engine made by Polaris. The Slingshot is a fun two-seater with a high-revving engine, tadpole-style three-wheeled…...

23+ hour, 39+ min ago (670+ words) On a remote coral reef near Papua New Guinea, endless streams of bubbles rise from cracks in the seabed into the shallow water, fed by an underground volcanic system. For scientists, this natural phenomenon has become a kind of crystal ball, revealing how our changing oceans will shape the marine life within them. A team led by researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has found that these volcanic bubbles " made up of almost pure carbon dioxide (CO2) " create a kind of localized change in the environment, due to the increased acidification of the water. As the gas rises, it forms visible streams of bubbles, which dissolve into the surrounding seawater and change its chemistry. And because this is occurring near coral reefs in Papua New Guinea's Milne Bay, the scientists are able to see what elevated CO2 in the…...

1+ day, 4+ hour ago (230+ words) The Loyal Wingman concept has taken a major step toward reality as Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works pulled off an aerial demonstration where a 5th-generation F-22 Raptor interceptor took command of a drone for the first time. In recent years, the US Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Family of Systems initiative in general and its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program specifically have been making great strides toward a whole new field of air combat tactics " not to mention addressing a major problem vexing fighter plane development. That's not one type of fighter plane. That's one plane in total. The CCA program is part of the effort to get things under control. It's estimated that an autonomous 'loyal wingman' drone will cost only a third as much as a conventional fighter to build and operate. Not only that, they could be…...

1+ day, 17+ hour ago (307+ words) That's what propelled researchers at Canada's McGill University to develop an eco-friendly alternative. Inspired by children's science projects that used a lemon and copper wire to power a lightbulb, the small team explored how citric acid could enhance a gelatin-based electrolyte to increase its conductivity. Liu followed research supervisor Sharmistha Bhadra's advice, who said "Many people make a lemon battery as kids. The lemon has enough ions to conduct electricity. I suggested Junzhi look at citric acid." The engineers found that mixing citric acid, and even lactic acid, with the gelatin electrolyte, broke down the layer that accumulated on the magnesium electrode. This increased the battery's lifetime and voltage. That's neat on its own. What's even cooler is that once the team suspended both acids in the gelatin electrolyte, the researchers cut the battery in a pattern inspired by kirigami,…...

2+ day, 2+ hour ago (259+ words) We'd like to welcome this curious armless burrowing lizard into the New Species Hall of Fame. Despite being built for life underground, in the end this slider skink was no match for scientists who had searched for a decade to confirm its existence. "As one of the least biologically surveyed areas in Australia, we still have lots to learn about biodiversity in the Gulf," said Dr. Eridani Mulder, AWC Senior Wildlife Ecologist. "Every record, even of something as inconspicuous as a tiny sand-dwelling skink, helps us build a more complete picture of these ecosystems." "So far, this new species of little lizard has only been recorded at Pungalina-Seven Emu, so it's vitally important that we continue to look after this place," she added. Described as a secretive, sand-dwelling skink, the limb-challenged lizard has officially been named Lerista munuwajarlu, inspired by…...

2+ day, 4+ hour ago (243+ words) In a proposal that reads more like the script to a new sci-fi movie, researchers are suggesting a unique way to tackle one of the core problems of quantum computing. If deployed, it would redefine how we think of "cloud computing." There's one big issue with quantum computers though: most qubits need to be kept at ultracold temperatures just above absolute zero in order to function correctly. So building these machines at scale would require a significant energy expenditure to keep them cool. A new proposal from researchers at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) sidesteps this issue with a unique approach. Because the HAPs would float far above clouds and potentially disruptive weather systems, they could operate and charge their batteries using solar energy during the day, and switch to the batteries for nighttime functionality....