Major nuclear fusion milestone reached as ‘ignition’ triggered in a lab | Phys.org (01:11)

• A new experiment triggered ignition for the first time, at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US, recreating the extreme temperatures and pressures found at the heart of the Sun.
• The researchers are using a powerful laser to heat and compress hydrogen fuel, with the goal of initiating fusion.
• This has produced more energy than any previous inertial confinement fusion experiment, and proves ignition is possible
  • Resulting in reactions that produce more energy than they need to get started.
• Scientists have been working on solving this ignition challenge for almost 50 years, when the idea was first introduced.
• Co-director of the Center for Inertial Fusion Studies at Imperial, Professor Jeremy Chittenden, discusses the progression of the study:
  • “After ten years of steady progress towards demonstrating ignition, the results of experiments over the last year have been more spectacular, as small improvements in the fusion energy output are strongly amplified by the ignition process. The pace of improvement in energy output has been rapid, suggesting we may soon reach more energy milestones, such as exceeding the energy input from the lasers used to kick-start the process.”
• The results from the experiment on August 8th indicate an energy output of over one megajoule, which marks the threshold for the onset of ‘ignition’ and is six times the previous highest energy achieved.
• The difficulty of nuclear fusion is it has proven difficult to control, and no fusion experiment has produced more energy than has been put in to get the reaction going.
• This experiment is paving the way for ‘break even’ reaction, where the energy in is matched by the energy out.
• Professor Chittenden discusses the NIF and what this experiment could mean for the future:
  • “[W]hile the NIF is primarily a physics experiment, and does not have the main goal of creating fusion energy, this incredible result means that this dream is closer to being a reality. We have now proven it is possible to reach ignition, giving inspiration to other laboratories and start-ups around the world working on fusion energy production to try to realize the same conditions using a simpler, more robust and above all cheaper method.”
• The Imperial team are now analyzing the outputs of the experiment, using diagnostic methods they have created to understand what is happening in such extreme conditions.

3 grizzly bears groups are linked to 3 human languages | Big Think (08:36)

• Researchers trying to understand why bears had begun to migrate to islands along the coast of British Columbia gathered DNA samples from bears to better understand how they were related to each other.
• The grizzlies belong to three distinct genetic groups, it turns out, although there were no apparent physical barriers to keep them from co-mingling.
• Here is the weird thing: each grizzly group appeared to be somehow tied to one of the region’s three aboriginal human language families.
  • Each grizzly group’s territory precisely matched the area in which one of those languages was spoken. 
• Maybe, the scientists wondered, it isn’t so much that the bears cannot travel to new locations but rather that they have no need to.
  • Since the same resources that sustain human populations are the same as those required for large mammals such as grizzlies.

• The Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s press release sums it up: “The explanation the research partnership favors is that the landscape has shaped bears and humans in similar ways.”

A Deadly Brain Tumor Has Been 3D-Printed in The Lab For The First Time | Science Alert (13:52)

• For the first time, one of the deadliest forms of brain tumor (glioblastoma) has been successfully 3D-bioprinted, by scientists at Tel Aviv University, resulting in the most complete lab-grown model yet.
• Glioblastoma is rare but it is nasty when it occurs. It grows quickly and aggressively on the brain or brain stem, cannot be cured, and is almost always fatal.
  • Hard to treat as well.
• Something I found interesting was mentioned by cancer researcher and nanoscientist Ronit Satchi-Fainaro discussing how they would find certain proteins in the cancer when removed during surgery but not when grown in the lab:
  • “The reason is that cancer, like all tissues, behaves very differently on a plastic surface than it does in the human body. Approximately 90 percent of all experimental drugs fail at the clinical stage because the success achieved in the lab is not reproduced in patients.”
• The team’s attempt at finding a solution to this limitation was a glioblastoma bio-ink, created from glioblastoma cells, astrocytes, and microglia derived from a patient.
  • Each glioblastoma model was 3D-printed in a bioreactor
• This lab model is the most complete replication of a tumor and surrounding tissue yet – a breakthrough that could help develop treatments
  • Able to simulate the way the tumors interact with the surrounding brain tissue. 
  • Providing a way to study the way the cancer behaves that is specific to its environment – the brain.
• 2D cultures all grow at the same rate; whereas the 3D-printed tumors showed varying growth rates, which is what is observed in humans and animals.
  • Suggesting a way to more accurately study the behavior of glioblastoma.
  • Additionally it could lead to ways to develop patient-specific interventions.

New Island Appears off the Coast of Japan After Underwater Volcano Erupts | Interesting Engineering (23:01)

• Looking for some hot, brand-new real estate off the coast of Japan? You’re in luck since a new island is up for grabs.
• The Japanese archipelago is a collection of over 6,800 islands that make up the country of Japan, and it has a new addition.
  • A C-shaped landmass with a diameter of approximately 0.62 miles (1 km), as reported by the Japan Coast Guard.
• The island was discovered last Sunday after a volcano 30 miles south of Iwo Jima began erupting on Friday.
  • The island is actually the summit of a massive underwater volcano called Fukutoku-Okanoba, according to Forbes.
• This coincides with last week’s explosive volcanic activity, where a plume of steam and gas rose from the ocean to altitudes of more than 15 kilometers. 
  • Video here.
• This most recent island could be temporary or it could become a permanent feature if the volcano continues to erupt and it produces a robust shell. 
  • In that case, it could be added to Japan’s territory.

NANOPARTICLES COULD ACT AS HEART ATTACK ‘WARNING SIGNAL’ | Futurity (26:38)

• If heart attacks blared a warning signal, patients would have a better chance of avoiding them and that is the idea behind this new imaging technique.
• Bryan Smith, an associate professor in Michigan State University discuss the imaging process:
  • “We shine light into an artery where we’ve delivered certain types of particles that can absorb that light … As a product of the release of that energy, they can literally shout back at us in ways that we can detect and use to create 3D images.”
• The sound signal isn’t audible to human ears, but it’s easily captured by an ultrasound’s transducer. 
  • Capture the sound and create a 3D image.
  • Less intrusive and a good way at detecting harmful plaques
• This technique can now be used to directly image atherosclerotic plaques, the medical term for fatty clumps that accumulate in arteries that can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
  • Showcased in mice
• Smith continues to discuss how this technique is different than others:
  • “The power of our new technique is in its selectivity … There are certainly other methods to image plaques, but what distinguishes this strategy is that it’s cellular. We’re specifically looking at the cells—called macrophages and monocytes—that are most responsible for making a plaque vulnerable in the first place.”
• In the future, doctors may image arterial plaques in a precise and noninvasive way through the innovations with nanoparticles.
• Moving forward, the team will explore using these nanoparticles to aid with imaging and delivering a therapeutic.

Facebook launches VR remote work app, calling it a step to the ‘metaverse’ | CNBC (31:57)

• Facebook on Thursday launched a test of a new virtual-reality remote work app where users of the company’s Oculus Quest 2 headsets can hold meetings as avatar versions of themselves.
• Facebook sees its latest launch as an early step toward building the futuristic “metaverse” that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has touted in recent weeks.
• Facebook’s vice president of its Reality Labs group, Andrew Bosworth, said the new Workrooms app gives a sense of how the company envisions the metaverse.
  • “This is kind of one of those foundational steps in that direction,”
• In its first full VR news briefing, the company showed the following:
  • Workrooms users can design own personal avatar versions
  • Meet in virtual reality conference rooms and collaborate on shared whiteboards or documents, 
  • While still interacting with their own physical desk and computer keyboard. 
  • Facebook is now using Workrooms regularly for internal meetings.

• Reuters has a video of this metaverse in action, check it out here.
• The app, free through the Quest 2 headsets which cost about $300, allows up to 16 people together in VR and up to 50 total including video conference participants.
• The company said it would not use people’s work conversations and materials in Workrooms to target ads on Facebook.