New measurement to redefine kilogram. Using a state-of-the-art device for measuring mass, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made their most precise determination yet of Planck's constant, an important value in science that will help to redefine the kilogram, the official unit of mass in the SI, or international system of units. The new NIST measurement of Planck's constant is 6.626069934 x 10-34 kg-m2/s, with an uncertainty of only 13 parts per billion. NIST's previous measurement, published in 2016, had an uncertainty of 34 parts per billion. The kilogram is currently defined in terms of the mass of a platinum-iridium artifact stored in France. Scientists want to replace this physical artifact with a more reproducible definition for the kilogram that is based on fundamental constants of nature.
Underground tunnel to bypass traffic in LA … and the world? SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that his new Boring Company has completed the drilling of the first underground tunnel segment and is geared to launch a car elevator pod that would be used to bring vehicles from street level into the tunnel network. There they would be transported on an electric rail using a skate-like platform at speeds up to 130 mph.
Removing man-made dye pollutants with solar energy. Scientists at Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University have developed a novel composite material that can be used a catalyst for the degradation of environmentally-harmful synthetic dye pollutants. It effectively removes dye pollutants from water, adsorbing more than 90 % of the dye and enhancing the rate of dye breakdown by almost ten times using visible light.
Self-powered, smart windows. Using new solar cell technology, researchers at Princeton University have developed a different type of smart window: a self-powered version that promises to be inexpensive and easy to apply to existing windows. This system features solar cells that selectively absorb near-ultraviolet (near-UV) light, so the new windows are completely self-powered.
Faster movie rendering with AI. Disney Research, Pixar Animation and University of California, Santa Barbara have developed a new technology based on artificial intelligence and deep learning that eliminates the noise usually associated with production rendering. The team used millions of examples from the Pixar film Finding Dory to train a deep learning model known as a Convolutional Neural Network. Through this process, the system learned to transform the noisy images into noise-free images that resemble those computed with significantly more light rays. Once trained, the system was successfully able to remove the noise on test images from entirely different films, such as Pixar's latest release, "Cars 3," and their upcoming feature "Coco.”
