Tag: small
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Electricity Out of Thin Air
A team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown that nearly any material can be turned into a device that continuously harvests electricity from humidity in the air. Jeff and Anthony think this could be a paradigm-shifting breakthrough, and discuss how it is being done and why it might change everything. [more]
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Xenobots and Space Crime
The US scientists who created the first living robots say the life forms, known as xenobots, can now reproduce in a way not seen in plants and animals. Anthony and Jeff step through this discovery and what it could mean for humanity. Then, it appears NASA is investigating first allegation of crime in space. Jeff and Anthony speculate on how this might play out, and what the future of intergalactic criminality could look like. [more]
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Quantum AI and Tiny Rango | #643
What if an AI could learn, not by simply doing an activity over and over, but by actually employing creativity? A new quantum computer aims to do just that, and it has Anthony and Jeff wondering what exactly makes intelligence intelligent. Then, a new record for the tiniest reptile ever discovered has been set in the island of Madagascar. Jeff sells Anthony on the idea of getting an itty bitty teeny weeny chameleon as a pet. [more]
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Good Nature and Micro Boats
According to a new experiment at a daycare in Finland, proximity and exposure to nature for just one month may be enough to change a child's immune system. Anthony and Jeff discuss whether it is important to enjoy the green during a global health crisis. The, researchers have 3D printed the smallest boat in the world: a 30-micrometer copy of Benchy the tug boat, a well-known 3D printer test object. This boat is so small, it could float down the interior of a human hair. Jeff and Anthony imagine a world where designer vehicles are injected into our bloodstream to deliver medicine. [more]
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Zeptoseconds and Mummy Twinkies
Scientists have measured the shortest unit of time ever: the time it takes a light particle to cross a hydrogen molecule: 247 zeptoseconds. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second, or a decimal point followed by 20 zeroes and a 1. Anthony and Jeff sort through all of the smallest units of time and how they were named. Then, Colin Purrington thought that Twinkies could never go bad, so he bit into one he had been holding onto for 8 years. What he found led him to send it to some fungi scientists. Jeff and Anthony discuss what happened to these horrifying treats, perfect for Spook-tober! [more]
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Nowhere You Are
In a triumph of data collection and analysis, a team of researchers based at Oxford University has built the tools necessary to calculate how far any dot on a map is from a city — or anything else. The research allows us to pin down a question that has long evaded serious answers: Where is the middle of nowhere? The Washington Post processed every pixel and every populated place in the contiguous United States to find the one that best represents the “middle of nowhere.” Of all towns with more than 1,000 residents, Glasgow, home to 3,363 people in the rolling prairie of northeastern Montana, is farthest — about 4.5 hours in any direction — from any metropolitan area of more than 75,000 people. Jeff and Anthony consider the simple life. [more]
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