#By Application(Solar Cell

[aarunresearcher]

The United States solar power market size is projected to exhibit a growth rate (CAGR) of 17.6% during 2024-2032. The favorable government initiatives, rapid technological advancements, growing awareness of environmental sustainability, climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rising energy demand and increasing investment in research and development (R&D) efforts represent some of the key factors driving the market.

[wealthwise93]

Lithium and Copper: The Metals That Will Shape the Future

🔋🌍 Lithium and copper are set to revolutionize the economy as the demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy soars! 🌱✨ With innovations in battery tech and sustainable materials, the future looks bright for clean energy.

In the coming years, certain metals are poised to fundamentally change the global economy—foremost among them are lithium and copper. These two raw materials are becoming increasingly indispensable for the energy and transportation industries as the world shifts towards renewable energy and electric vehicles. Lithium: The Fuel of the Energy Transition Lithium plays a central role in the…

[pddparthi]

Semi-Transparent Perovskite Solar Cells: A Window to the Future of Energy

Introduction In a groundbreaking leap toward sustainable energy, scientists in South Korea have unveiled a remarkable advancement: semi-transparent perovskite solar cells that could revolutionize the way we harness sunlight. Imagine windows that not only let light in but also generate electricity! In this article, we delve into the fascinating world of semi-transparent solar technology,…

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - July 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. Four new cheetah cubs born in Saudi Arabia after 40 years of extinction

“[T]he discovery of mummified cheetahs in caves […] which ranged in age from 4,000 to as recent as 120 years, proved that the animals […] once called [Saudi Arabia] home. The realisation kick-started the country’s Cheetah Conservation Program to bring back the cats to their historic Arabian range. […] Dr Mohammed Qurban, CEO of the NCW, said: […] “This motivates us to continue our efforts to restore and reintroduce cheetahs, guided by an integrated strategy designed in accordance with best international practices.””

2. In sub-Saharan Africa, ‘forgotten’ foods could boost climate resilience, nutrition

“[A study published in PNAS] examined “forgotten” crops that may help make sub-Saharan food systems more resilient, and more nutritious, as climate change makes it harder to grow [current staple crops.] [… The study identified 138 indigenous] food crops that were “relatively underresearched, underutilized, or underpromoted in an African context,” but which have the nutrient content and growing stability to support healthy diets and local economies in the region. […] In Eswatini, van Zonneveld and the World Vegetable Center are working with schools to introduce hardy, underutilized vegetables to their gardens, which have typically only grown beans and maize.”

3. Here's how $4 billion in government money is being spent to reduce climate pollution

“[New Orleans was awarded] nearly $50 million to help pay for installing solar on low to middle income homes [… and] plans to green up underserved areas with trees and build out its lackluster bike lane system to provide an alternative to cars. […] In Utah, $75 million will fund several measures from expanding electric vehicles to reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production. [… A] coalition of states led by North Carolina will look to store carbon in lands used for agriculture as well as natural places like wetlands, with more than $400 million. [… This funding is] “providing investments in communities, new jobs, cost savings for everyday Americans, improved air quality, … better health outcomes.””

4. From doom scrolling to hope scrolling: this week’s big Democratic vibe shift

“[Democrats] have been on an emotional rollercoaster for the past few weeks: from grim determination as Biden fought to hang on to his push for a second term, to outright exuberance after he stepped aside and Harris launched her campaign. […] In less than a week, the Harris campaign raised record-breaking sums and signed up more than 100,000 new volunteers[….] This honeymoon phase will end, said Democratic strategist Guy Cecil, warning the election will be a close race, despite this newfound exuberance in his party. [… But v]oters are saying they are excited to vote for Harris and not just against Trump. That’s new.”

5. Biodegradable luminescent polymers show promise for reducing electronic waste

“[A team of scientists discovered that a certain] chemical enables the recycling of [luminescent polymers] while maintaining high light-emitting functions. […] At the end of life, this new polymer can be degraded under either mild acidic conditions (near the pH of stomach acid) or relatively low heat treatment (> 410 F). The resulting materials can be isolated and remade into new materials for future applications. […] The researchers predict this new polymer can be applied to existing technologies, such as displays and medical imaging, and enable new applications […] such as cell phones and computer screens with continued testing.”

6. World’s Biggest Dam Removal Project to Open 420 Miles of Salmon Habitat this Fall

“Reconnecting the river will help salmon and steelhead populations survive a warming climate and [natural disasters….] In the long term, dam removal will significantly improve water quality in the Klamath. “Algae problems in the reservoirs behind the dams were so bad that the water was dangerous for contact […] and not drinkable,” says Fluvial Geomorphologist Brian Cluer. [… The project] will begin to reverse decades of habitat degradation, allow threatened salmon species to be resilient in the face of climate change, and restore tribal connections to their traditional food source.”

7. Biden-Harris Administration Awards $45.1 Million to Expand Mental Health and Substance Use Services Across the Lifespan

““Be it fostering wellness in young people, caring for the unhoused, facilitating treatment and more, this funding directly supports the needs of our neighbors,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. [The funding also supports] recovery and reentry services to adults in the criminal justice system who have a substance use disorder[… and clinics which] serve anyone who asks for help for mental health or substance use, regardless of their ability to pay.”

8. The World’s Rarest Crow Will Soon Fly Free on Maui

“[… In] the latest attempt to establish a wild crow population, biologists will investigate if this species can thrive on Maui, an island where it may have never lived before. Translocations outside of a species’ known historical range are rare in conservation work, but for a bird on the brink of extinction, it’s a necessary experiment: Scientists believe the crows will be safer from predators in a new locale—a main reason that past reintroduction attempts failed. […] As the release date approaches, the crows have already undergone extensive preparation for life in the wild. […] “We try to give them the respect that you would give if you were caring for someone’s elder.””

9. An optimist’s guide to the EV battery mining challenge

““Battery minerals have a tremendous benefit over oil, and that’s that you can reuse them.” [… T]he report’s authors found there’s evidence to suggest that [improvements in technology] and recycling have already helped limit demand for battery minerals in spite of this rapid growth — and that further improvements can reduce it even more. [… They] envision a scenario in which new mining for battery materials can basically stop by 2050, as battery recycling meets demand. In this fully realized circular battery economy, the world must extract a total of 125 million tons of battery minerals — a sum that, while hefty, is actually 17 times smaller than the oil currently harvested every year to fuel road transport.”

10. Peekaboo! A baby tree kangaroo debuts at the Bronx Zoo

“The tiny Matschie’s tree kangaroo […] was the third of its kind born at the Bronx Zoo since 2008. [… A] Bronx Zoo spokesperson said that the kangaroo's birth was significant for the network of zoos that aims to preserve genetic diversity among endangered animals. "It's a small population and because of that births are not very common," said Jessica Moody, curator of primates and small mammals at the Bronx Zoo[, …] adding that baby tree kangaroos are “possibly one of the cutest animals to have ever lived. They look like stuffed animals, it's amazing.””

July 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Using DNA origami, researchers create diamond lattice for future semiconductors of visible light

The shimmering of butterfly wings in bright colors does not emerge from pigments. Rather, photonic crystals are responsible for the play of colors. Their periodic nanostructure allows light at certain wavelengths to pass through while reflecting other wavelengths. This causes the wing scales, which are in fact transparent, to appear so magnificently colored. For research teams, the manufacture of artificial photonic crystals for visible light wavelengths has been a major challenge and motivation ever since they were predicted by theorists more than 35 years ago. "Photonic crystals have a versatile range of applications. They have been employed to develop more efficient solar cells, innovative optical waveguides, and materials for quantum communication. However, they have been very laborious to manufacture," explains Dr. Gregor Posnjak.

Read more.

[mindblowingscience]

For the first time, Stanford researchers have found a way to create and stabilize an extremely rare form of gold that has lost two negatively charged electrons, denoted Au2+. The material stabilizing this elusive version of the valued element is a halide perovskite—a class of crystalline materials that holds great promise for various applications including more-efficient solar cells, light sources, and electronics components. Surprisingly, the Au2+ perovskite is also quick and simple to make using off-the-shelf ingredients at room temperature. "It was a real surprise that we were able to synthesize a stable material containing Au2+—I didn't even believe it at first," said Hemamala Karunadasa, associate professor of chemistry at the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences and senior author of the study published Aug. 28 in Nature Chemistry. "Creating this first-of-its-kind Au2+ perovskite is exciting. The gold atoms in the perovskite bear strong similarities to the copper atoms in high-temperature superconductors, and heavy atoms with unpaired electrons, like Au2+, show cool magnetic effects not seen in lighter atoms."

Continue Reading.

[talenlee]

Meet The OC: Bec Querel

This is an explanatory writeup of one of my Original Characters (OCs). Nothing here is necessarily related to a meaningful fiction you should recognise and is shared because I think my OCs are cool and it’s cool to talk about OCs you make.

Bec Querel lived the life – such as it was – of every child genius. Attaining truly prodigious achievement before adolesence, she burst onto the scene of national significance as a child prodigy and mutant, and just as quickly faded once it was realised that she wasn’t going to do anything of particular noteworthy significance compared to the latest celebrity starlet inclined to lose her underpants in public.

Furthermore, Bec realised that she was in possession of knowledge and understanding that was well beyond her means to communicate. Without a solid social grounding – she had blurred her way through her schooling in pursuit of more knowledge – she had realised she lacked a mature communication base. While in this state, she was approached by Dr Marion Shepherd of Project Corona, and asked to rejoin the project.

Seeing an opportunity to expand her skill base, and to perhaps use her mathematically-refined powers for some good, Bec agreed, and began her two-year journey through high school once more.

Bec Querel is a genius. She’ll tell you as much, but only if you ask. It’s not something she feels the need to volunteer, because that isn’t a thing that Ordinary And Reasonably Standardised experiences involve. An insufferable child genius she has resolved to redo her adolescent education to pursue not an optimal path through to maximised resources and instead stabilising social experiences that result in her not being a potentially Morally Ambiguous Doctorate Scientist (M.a.D).

Bec Querel is a living star, her biology somehow managing to overcome the herculean task of room-temperature fusion. She absorbs solar energy and emits heat, and her body operates like a nuclear furnace. Many of her internal organs are nonfunctional or vestigial, and her digestive tract is almost ornamental [citation needed]. Her body sustains itself through a superefficient permutation of breathing – as long as she has oxygen and carbon atoms to access, she can continue generating energy. Further, her cells emit most of their waste in the form of low-key emittant radiation, which she can focus into concentrated bursts and blasts.

As a hero, as an ally, she is a point of blatant utility. Since her mutation is effectively a nuclear fusion energy battery inside her own body, she is capable of powering some truly ludicrous devices, and uses that energy to drive devices that would otherwise be untenable to use in combat scenarios. It’s all very good to have a flash-vaporiser that can knock people unconscious by dehydrating them for an instant or overloading their optic nerves, but unless you can power that kind of device repeatedly, it’s not going to be useful in most active conflict environments. Bec is the power supply, and everything else she does is filtered through those tools. This even includes the imps that follow her around, three small fire goblins that she keeps contained with an electrically-powered rune portal to give them freedom to hang around her.

Bec’s powers are ultimately limited in their finesse. She wields radiation the same way one might wield a club, and lacking any good visual metaphor for the practice, she instead has to rely on fine-tuned processes and mathematical formulas that need adjustment on the fly. With this in mind, rather than causing irreperable harm, she has to keep her radiation tools somewhat inexact and imprecise – reducing people’s reaction times and making them feel nauseated is often the limits of her radiant prowess. Further to that, her ability to use heat and light to blind and confuse enemies are fairly two-dimensional in their applications, meaning that most enemies who come prepared can best them, usually with heavy optic shielding.

Finally, Bec may be a genius but that doesn’t make her cunning; her ability to outwit enemies often relies on an understanding of what they would or should do, and her lack of social familiarity with most social strata means that she’s not very good at predicting the sensible behaviour of even normal street gangs. All her theories work just fine, for spherical villains in a vacuum.

Mechanics

Bec was a fire control/radiation emission controller.

I don’t have a current build for her and really, if I did have a copy of her build to open it I’d first need to find an earlier version of Mids, open it in that, then export that build to a current version and daisy chain the build to curent Homecoming standards.

If I was building her today, I would deliberately be trying to give her a build that hit the goal of:

Permanent Accelerate Metabolism. This is doable around 130-140% global recharge, with Hasten, and then feeds into it. This would necessitate two ‘auto’ buttons – which I’d get by binding hasten to my ‘back’ button, a trick I’ve been doing on almost all characters these days.

A single-target attack chain of (probably) Char + An Epic Attack + Ring Of Fire, and a ranged aoe fireball effect. Treating these as attacks before controls is a bit risky, but remember that this is a character with a ludicrous amount of recharge; single target holds lasting a long time isn’t that important because she’d be attacking with it every few minutes.

I’d have to choose between using Hot Feet and standing near people to do more area damage and control, versus flying around at range and relying on ranged defense to protect her from mezzes and damage. The former wants Smashing/Lethal defense, the latter wants Ranged defense and resistance armours. This could hinge on how endurance-hungry her build is. If she’s an end hog, turning off Hot Feet and relying instead on resistance armours could play into Cardiac.

If I was building her today, I probably wouldn’t spare any expense. This is an old, beloved character with a very fun playstyle and a beloved characterisation. If I could get her friends back into the game, or even make comparative friends, there would be in my mind, no problem with literally bankrolling everyone to have fancy builds like hers.

Of course, that won’t happen, but it’s still a thing to think about. I still have this character occupying my headspace after all.

History

That is the description I wrote for Bec Querel, sometime before January 2010, and Bec herself was made in 2007. This is at least 15 year old writing. It is, in my opinion, weak, and part of what makes it weak is that it tells you a backstory at the expense of the character you’re going to interact with.

Bec Querel is an autistic supergenius nuclear astroscientist who noticed she was lonely at the age of 15 and decided to re-do highschool as an Optimal Social Experience. She did this because she did all the super-science she needed to do and now she wants friends, and she’s bad at having them. To do this, and not give up on the super science, she took on the task of a High School Hero (which I would, now, probably position at college rather than high school).

I don’t think I even have Bec Querel’s name camped anywhere now. It seemed to me to be one of those free, perfect versions of its name; a character who cared about temperature and radiation, where the unit for measuring those things was itself, also pretty believable as a name? I think it’s clear in my mind that she was a Rebecca, and therefore Bec, and maybe even had some degree of a semi-public identity (when she was publishing academically), that she turned into a private identity by inventing a fake surname for her hero identity. Papers that were published at first pseudonymously because of her age and then declared connected to a superhero identity strike me as a thing for her.

Ultimately, the history of Bec Querel is a tangle because she was one of my important milestones of a character. She was almost my first hero 50; she was easily one of my highest level heroes as I played her in a dedicated team, even if I wasn’t good at it. Bec was my introduction to the Virtue roleplaying server and becoming part of that roleplaying public space. Also, and this is important: Bec is defined in my memory by disappointing other roleplayers by being a butthole.

Also, Bec is a character whose sexuality I had to work out. I’m still not sure where she lands, but for a while there she was genuinely curious as to if she had a sexuality or not.

Oh! And she’s where I first used keybinds to do something impressive (in her case, singing all of ‘O Canada’ one line at a time). I’ve since become very familiar with the keybind system and now I like doing specific things to squeeze function out of the interface.

Conclusion

I miss what Bec was about. I miss the friends I had with her. I wish I’d been better at being a friend and I wish I’d been better at talking with people about what they needed and how they were feeling. I wish I’d been better at talking about what I felt.

Like I dunno, maybe I was specifically, kinda trash at being a good friend because of a hole blown in my high school life.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[tobiasdrake]

Do you feel like ranking DBZ movie villains by how interested you would be in a movie that reinvents them for the current canon/state of the franchise, like what Broly got?

Alternatively, by how interested you would be if you could write the movie, without having to worry about how you expect Toei would actually write the characters in question.

#1 - Lord Slug. He and his movie suffer tremendously from the whole "Just rehashing Piccolo-Daimao" thing but the stuff they do add to the character is really interesting and fun.

He's an alien vampire who blots out the sun as part of his sinister plan to convert the Earth into a sports car he can drive around and look cool in. He's defeated by Goku drawing the energy of the sun into a Genki-Dama to erase his vampiric ass, which is an established obscure ability of the technique that no one has ever done anything with.

Kaio literally said with words from his mouth that Goku can use the sun to make a Genki-Dama. Goku had to make a desperate Genki-Dama once on a planet with three suns. And this has never, ever come up. Except against Namekian Dracula and his army of vampires.

This is the top of my list of things to formally canonize a "The Good Version" of.

2 - Turles. Tree of Might is also a film that had a lot of interesting elements about it. Turles's plot is underdeveloped because of the film following manga rehash rails so closely but, like Slug, the original stuff they did with him is fascinating.

Turles is presented as a foil to Goku. Where Goku has studied and mastered the divine arts of the gods, Turles somehow broke into the heavens and stole away with an item of immense power. He's a bandit who pillaged the heavens for power and then wreaked havoc on the mortal universe. How did he do that? That's so cool.

And it sets up a unique rivalry between him and Goku, pitting Goku's divine techniques against the incredible powers that Turles possesses but doesn't fully understand.

Also, like the Solar Genki-Dama, the part where Goku destroys the Tree of Might not by hitting it with an attack but by using the technique's genki-harvesting feature to pull all the world's stolen genki back out of the tree? Genuinely brilliant application of an obscure feature of the technique we don't really think about.

And and I just desperately want it to be canon that low-class Saiyans only have a handful of mass-produced faces and body types between them. That's the film's explanation for why Turles looks like Goku. It's because Goku is an assembly line Barbie doll you can buy off the shelf at Walmart, as opposed to the $50,000 custom-made luxury item that is Vegeta.

3 - Cooler: Cooler, I'm less enthusiastic about but there are ways that he can be interesting. I've speculated about some ways that they could go about adapting Cooler to DBS canon because he's always seemed, after Broly, to be the most likely candidate.

But honestly, Cooler's never really been that interesting to me. He's a knock-off Frieza in the same way Slug's a knock-off Piccolo but there isn't really anything unique I can point to and go, "EXCEPT there's this really interesting stuff that they could really push and make an interesting villain out of." He's... just Frieza with the serial numbers filed off.

Even my pitches for Cooler basically just amount to, "Create a new character who is Frieza's brother and name him Cooler."

Alright. So, from here we get into characters I'm not disinterested in necessarily but I don't think could really work.

4 - Androids 13, 14, and 15. These three can only interestingly fit into a very specific span of time. Popping out during the week build-up to the Cell Games is basically the perfect placement for them, because the Cell arc is the only time when "Oh no, EVEN MORE evil Androids by Dr. Gero!" really works as a story.

I like them. They're fun, and they could be even moreso if given a chance. But their window of opportunity is slim. Canonizing them would make more sense as an interquel than a sequel. And we don't really need an interquel for them, because that movie already exists and is called "Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans".

5 - Dr. Wheelo. Similarly, Dr. Wheelo has already been pretty thoroughly cannibalized by Dr. Gero and Zamasu. "Super-old mad scientist Dr. Brain-in-a-Jar and his bio-android minions plot to steal Goku's body" is a story that would feel like it's rehashing material we already have, even though he fucking came first.

And here we go with the ones I'm just not interested in at all.

6 - Garlic Jr. Basically the only thing interesting about him is "How do we defeat a guy who's immortal?" But the answer to that question is always bullshit. "He opens the Negative Zone and defeats himself." "Goku has a pager in his pocket he can just use to call God and ask him to please delete this plot from the story." "Do the thing to make him not immortal anymore and then it's not a problem."

There's the Mafuba but at this point that just feels cheap. There's not really a way to have the characters walk up and hit the villain with a technique they've all known about for decades and could have done at any moment, but to keep it in reserve as an eleventh hour THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION desperation play even though they could have just done it at any point in the fight.

Characters keeping the winning play in their back pocket for no other reason than to make the fight more dramatic is exactly the kind of thing that I go off on modern Dragon Ball for.

So. Yeah. The answer to "How do we defeat the immortal villain?" is that there is no good answer and we shouldn't write characters into that situation. This character's one and only utility is to force the movie to end stupidly.

(Honestly, Gomah is probably the closest to a good version of Garlic Jr. you could ever get.)

7 - Janemba. Janemba isn't really a character. He's a vehicle to facilitate the idea of villains from Hell breaking out and starting a commotion. That's all he is. It's an idea that Toei liked so much they did it three separate times: Once for the Anoyoichi Budokai filler arc, once for Fusion Reborn, and once for the Super Android 17 arc of GT.

But my beef with it is twofold. First. Like. The mythology of Dragon Ball is set up specifically to disallow plots like this. Villains don't keep their bodies when they die. They become a powerless soul like all the other powerless souls. Keeping your body is a rare and special privilege, and is the only way to retain your power.

This cannot happen.

The other issue is that it's boring. The escalating powerscale of Dragon Ball means that yesterday's titanic threat isn't that big of a deal tomorrow. The way this always works out is like. "Oh no, Raditz and Nappa are back! But also Gohan's like 87 quintillion times more powerful than them so he just flicks them both in the head and they explode and die instantly."

Reclimbing old mountains isn't as fun in practice as it sounds on paper. Oh no, what if Goku had to fight Tambourine again? How could Super Saiyan Blue Goku ever manage to defeat Tambourine?

And without that element... there's just nothing else to Janemba as a threat. He is the least interesting thing that happens in his movie. A vehicle to facilitate a plot that's now been done to death and hasn't been good a single time, and a fusion that is no longer bold new territory to tread.

8 - Bojack. The only interesting thing that happens in Bojack's movie is a martial arts tournament that Bojack isn't even involved with. Like Janemba, there isn't really a lot to Bojack and his crew. They're just... some villains. In the wide world of Dragon Ball villains, here are some more of them.

And finally, closing out this list with an honorable mention.

N/A - Hirudegarn. I actually don't remember this movie so I can't say how interesting it would be to create a canon version of Tapion and Hirudegarn.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Anatomy of a Dalek

A Dalek is primarily made from Dalekanium and polycarbide and is technically a cyborg. To understand how a Dalek is created, see How Do Daleks Become Daleks?

Some Daleks will have variations on the below, but these aspects of a Dalek's anatomy are broadly applicable to most.

The Dome (aka dome section, head section, head dome) is attached to the neck via a docking clamp.

Eyestalk (aka eyepiece, eye antenna, tele-eye, eye-stick, optical stalk, sensory antenna, eyeball unit). The eyestalk is attached to the dome via a lens attachment, sitting on a pivot in a cowl. The eye itself is known as an eyelens. The eyestalk is covered in multiple insulator discs to protect it from radiation.

Luminosity dischargers (aka headlamp, radiation valve, dome light, vocaliser light, sound disc). It's not quite known how or why the luminosity dischargers sync up with Dalek speech, but they could be energy compensators, translation units, safety valves to release excess energy, or just lights to indicate when a Dalek's speaking.

Neck (aka grating section, upper grating section). Attached to the weapons platform via another docking clamp, or 'catch'.

Neck rings support the neck grille.

Neck grille (aka audio receptor grill, sensor grille, sensor mesh, sensor grid louvres) cover the mutant Dalek within.

Weapons Platform (aka shoulder platform, shoulder section).

Slats (aka solar power collection slats, solar slats, solar cells, shoulder slats, armour slats, sensor plates) are effectively solar panels that absorb energy to power the Dalek.

Gunstick (aka radiation gun, gun-rod, ray-gun, exterminator, blast-gun, energy gun, Dalek neutraliser, neutraliser, beam distributor, Dalek beam gun, Dalek gun, ruby ray blaster). Sits on a balljoint, controlled by armament circuits. Can be set to non-lethal, causing temporary paralysis, but maximum settings can split atoms apart. Some Daleks deliberately reduce the power of their gunstick so that the beam burns away the central nervous system outside inwards, so victims die within 2-3 seconds in complete agony.

Manipulator arm (aka tactile arm, arm-stick). Usually sits on a balljoint. Attachments can be swapped out for various tools depending on the needs of the Dalek. Some attachments include the plunger, flamethrower, seismic detector, electrode unit, sieve, syringe, blow torch, cutting tool, another gunstick, or a claw, or basically anything they need.

Base Unit (aka travel unit). Contains the motive unit, the elevation unit, and thrusters.

Sense spheres (aka sensor globes, sensor arrays, bumps) can do pretty much whatever you want them to, including detecting emissions, monitoring the surrounding environment, and acting as self-destruct mechanisms. They can also function as sockets for cables and wires, and some say the sensor globes are capable of free flight, allowing them to provide remote battlefield intelligence.

Bumper (aka fender). Possibly containing proximal alert systems to detect other Daleks, but more likely just softening collisions.

Gallifreyan Dalek Biology for Tuesday by GIL

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features:⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[ketrinadrawsalot]

Indium is a metal soft enough to be cut with a knife and is capable of soaking into glass in its molten state. It's used in many electronic applications, such as liquid-crystal displays, semiconductors, LEDs, and solar cells.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this press release from the US Department of Energy:

As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a $71 million investment, including $16 million from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in research, development, and demonstration projects to grow the network of domestic manufacturers across the U.S. solar energy supply chain. The selected projects will address gaps in the domestic solar manufacturing capacity for supply chain including equipment, silicon ingots and wafers, and both silicon and thin-film solar cell manufacturing. The projects will also open new markets for solar technologies such as dual-use photovoltaic (PV) applications, including building-integrated PV and agrivoltaics.

These efforts complement and strengthen the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to rapidly deploy clean energy to help achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. These efforts advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 initiative, which set a goal that 40% of overall benefits from certain federal climate and clean energy investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

[liminalgardens]

Scientists Have Developed a Living “Bio-Solar Cell” That Runs on Photosynthesis

Plants are often thought of as sources of food, oxygen, and decoration, but not as a source of electricity. However, scientists have discovered that by harnessing the natural transport of electrons within plant cells, it is possible to generate electricity as part of a green, biological solar cell. In a recent study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers for the first time used a succulent plant to create a living “bio-solar cell” that runs on photosynthesis...

The researchers created a living solar cell using the succulent Corpuscularia lehmannii, also called the “ice plant.” They inserted an iron anode and platinum cathode into one of the plant’s leaves and found that its voltage was 0.28V. When connected to a circuit, it produced up to 20 µA/cm2 of photocurrent density, when exposed to light and could continue producing current for over a day. Though these numbers are less than that of a traditional alkaline battery, they are representative of just a single leaf.

Previous studies on similar organic devices suggest that connecting multiple leaves in series could increase the voltage. The team specifically designed the living solar cell so that protons within the internal leaf solution could be combined to form hydrogen gas at the cathode, and this hydrogen could be collected and used in other applications. The researchers say that their method could enable the development of future sustainable, multifunctional green energy technologies.

[i-am-cesear]

Listen! You know I am a big Natsuhiko simp. It was normal for me to wonder about his necklace.

I think his necklace is REALLY important. What we know about Natsuhiko's necklace? It is a present from Sakura and it is germanium. He is just so casually says it in here.

I needed to check what is germanium and

1) Why did Sakura gave Natsu a germanium necklace?

Let's start with germanium itself. If I pass the more scientific stuff about germanium, this is what I get so far:

• It is a metalloid in the carbon group that is chemically similar to its group neighbors silicon and tin.

• Germanium is not thought to be an essential element for any living organism. Similar to silicon and aluminium, naturally-occurring germanium compounds tend to be insoluble in water and thus have little oral toxicity. However, synthetic soluble germanium salts are nephrotoxic, and synthetic chemically reactive germanium compounds with halogens and hydrogen are irritants and toxins.

•The major end uses for germanium in 2007, worldwide, were estimated to be: 35% for fiber-optics, 30% infrared optics, 15% polymerization catalysts, and 15% electronics and solar electric applications. The remaining 5% went into such uses as phosphors, metallurgy, and chemotherapy.

•Germanium supplements, made from both organic and inorganic germanium, have been marketed as an alternative medicine capable of treating leukemia and lung cancer.  There is, however, no medical evidence of benefit; some evidence suggests that such supplements are actively harmful.

So. We use germanium more in technology and it is not usually harmfull for people. Wanna know what I decided to search? Germanium necklaces. Just to see if it has any meaning.

I checked the first web-site and I know, I should've search more but I was curious. I searched "germanium necklace benefits" and wanna know what I found out? Apparently, germanium jewelry;

• Increases blood circulation

• Increases metabolism of body cells

• Removes harmful toxins

•Alleviates physical stress, stiffness, cramps or discomfort

• Controls swelling

• Reduces water retention

• Relieves fatigue and tiredness

• Promotes quality sleep

• Slows down aging

• Increases and maintains body warmth

But Cesear, why are they important??

It's because, I am almost sure that Natsuhiko is not wearing his necklace in this panel.

He is not wearing it. He can't. That necklace looks more like a collar than a necklace. For exemple, look here:

And here, now look at his germanium necklace:

That thing is not loose. I don't think he can wear that thing under a shirt that buttoned all the way up and a necktie. Look again. Do you see what I mean?

And in these panels, it is the first time Natsu talks about something that hurts him. He experienced some wild things before with Nene.

He looks scared but totally ok in here.

He looks scared, not in pain.

And he just comes back like nothing happened. These panels was one of the reasons why I thought he was immortal in the first place. He is wearing his necklace in all of them. He looks fine, he looks like his usual self. But in the raws, he looks tired. My friend pointed it out for me that in whole manga, this is the only time Natsu look genuinly tired and also, he mentions himself as a "human."

Maybe it's because he is losing blood but I don't think that much of blood and that much of a time is long enough for him to feel tired. I think he is not wearing his necklace and that necklace is healing him.

But Cesear, what does the necklace healing Natsu from?

Good question.

Before these raws, I thought that Natsu was sick and he was dying. Remember where people use germanium? Don't bother scroll back up, I'll show you again.

• Germanium supplements, made from both organic and inorganic germanium, have been marketed as an alternative medicine capable of treating leukemia and lung cancer.

But now that we have the raws, I know what the necklace heal Natsu from.

I think it is healing him from his own blood.

We now know that Natsuhiko is immortal (like I was saying for months now) because of a rumour that Sakura released but Natsu is not entirely supernatural. His blood causes the supernatural things to break down, it is toxic for them.

And if Natsu is at least somewhat immortal, that means that his blood might be toxic for him as well. He is also immortal. Which might put Natsu in a circle; his own blood keep hurting and killing him inside while his immortality forces him to live. It must be painful, he feels pain. He says that either cutting his palm or his blood hurts so he feels it. He can't be useful like that. So, how are we going to fix it?

By giving him a healing necklace which is also believed that helps with aging process.

So. Now you know why I found that necklace really important.

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - February 8-14

(I’m finally starting to get better from having had pneumonia for 2+ weeks, hopefully next week’s news should be on time)

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles!

1. Solar-powered device captures carbon dioxide from air to make sustainable fuel

“[The] solar-powered reactor could be used to make fuel to power cars and planes[.… It] does not require fossil-fuel-based power, or the transport and storage of carbon dioxide, but instead converts atmospheric CO2 into something useful using sunlight.”

2. How artificial light can boost coral reef recovery

“UZELA is [an autonomous submersible] designed to attract zooplankton […] by emitting specific wavelengths of light. [… In a ”six-month testing period,” it] significantly increased local zooplankton density and boosted the feeding rates of both healthy and bleached coral.”

3. Next-gen solar cells now fully recyclable with water-based method

“The recycled solar cell has the same efficiency as the original one. The solar cell is made of perovskite and the main solvent is water. […] They are not only relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture but also lightweight, flexible and transparent.”

4. Green walls cool cities and create urban habitats

“The researchers measured a cooling effect of up to 0.6–0.7 degrees Celsius [… which] could help combat the urban heat island phenomenon. […] The researchers [also] found that plant-covered facades hosted over 100 animal species, including insects, spiders, and birds.”

5. Major cause of honeybee mortality can be easily reduced

“If treatment occurs too soon, it may not fully eliminate the mites, allowing them to rebound before the season ends. […] Similar to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, mites that survive mistimed or improperly applied treatments become more resistant to future applications.”

6. Uganda community group restores shea groves and livelihoods

“As part of a larger effort to restore Uganda’s shea parklands, the cooperative has successfully rehabilitated more than 500 hectares (1,240 acres) of degraded land, integrating shea trees (Vitellaria paradoxa) and other native species with maize and sunflower crops.”

7. Senate Renews Commitment to the Great Lakes

“The [Act] represents the most significant federal investment in the health of the Great Lakes, addressing critical challenges such as pollution, invasive species, and habitat restoration. The Great Lakes […] hold 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater[….]”

8. Earth Gets Its Largest Protected Tropical Forest Reserve

“The Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor will […] protect 108,000 square kilometres of primary forest and support 60 million people who depend on the forest for food, energy and jobs. […] Through this approach, the DRC is empowering local communities to protect the forest while fostering economic growth.”

9. Australia’s Rarest Bird of Prey Spotted in Central Australia After 30 Years

“Dr. Henderson’s finding is an encouraging sign of the health of the sanctuary’s ecosystems as well as the bird’s continued migration into new areas. This bird’s presence in the sanctuary is particularly significant as it is the first confirmed sighting in the region since the mid-1990s.”

10. Australian company wins contract to design “hydrogen ready” high speed ferry

“The ferry, the Horizon X, will have capacity for 1,650 passengers and 450 cars, and will be able to travel at a speed of up to 35 knots. […] The ship will also have a specially-designed propulsion system arrangement that repurposes exhaust from the engine to help propel the vessel, in theory reducing its emissions.”

February 1-7 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)