Category Archives: Science

Climate Change, Government, Science, Technology, United States

Nuclear fusion: A breakthrough that will lead to clean energy?

NUCLEAR FUSION

A REVOLUTIONARY scientific breakthrough is thought to have brought humanity a step closer towards limitless clean energy from nuclear fusion.

Since the 1950s, scientists and researchers have been working tirelessly towards the “holy grail” of creating more energy from nuclear fusion than they put in.

Now US government scientists in California have reportedly done it, by aiming the world’s largest laser at a nuclear target the size of a peppercorn.

The result, from a nuclear reaction reaching three million degrees Celsius, is apparently 2.5 megajoules of energy, from 2.1 megajoules of laser energy.

Nuclear fusion is preferable to nuclear fission, which is currently used to power the planet alongside fossil fuels and renewable power.

That is because nuclear fission splits heavy atoms like uranium or plutonium, to create energy, producing potentially dangerous radioactive waste that must be stored.

Nuclear fusion creates energy by bringing atoms together, instead of splitting them, and has no waste products, making it clean energy.

Unlike coal, the supply is limitless, usually requiring just two materials called deuterium and tritium, which are slightly different versions of hydrogen and found in sea water and mineral springs.

A small cup of this fuel could one day be used to power a house for hundreds of years.

The breakthrough at the federal Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California was achieved using a laser pulse amplified a quadrillion (a million billion) times and split into 192 different pulses.

These enter a hohlraum – a gold container – and hit a tiny capsule of deuterium and tritium, creating shockwaves which produce vast amounts of  energy, in a process called inertial confinement fusion.

Significant engineering challenges remain, including how to cut the cost of nuclear fusion, harness the energy produced, run it through a turbine and get it into the National Grid.

Most experts believe this won’t be possible until 2045, but some say it could be done in a decade and is likely to be achieved using a different type of nuclear fusion called magnetic fusion.

But whether it is using magnets or lasers, the experts agree it is the main hope for escaping the climate crisis.

Sir Robin Grimes, professor of material physics at Imperial College London, said: “This is a key step towards commercial fusion – the technology which will ensure our survival on Earth, providing enough energy, with a low impact on the environment, to hugely reduce our contribution to climate change.”

Jeremy Chittenden, professor of plasma physics at Imperial, said: “If what has been reported is true and more energy has been released than was used to produce the plasma, that is a true breakthrough moment.”

Nuclear fusion, if it can be scaled up and made to run more continuously, could in future be almost zero-carbon.

However, some experts point out that the amount of energy used for the entire system containing the laser means, technically, scientists are unlikely to have yet produced more energy from nuclear fusion than was put into it.

The US energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, made the announcement of a “major scientific breakthrough”.

– Diagrammatic representation of how nuclear fusion works. Source: BBC

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Science, Society

Can I learn to be better at multitasking?

MULTITASKING

Intro: It’s time to nail this myth once and for all – the scientific fact is that your brain is simply not wired for multitasking

WE make the mistake of thinking that our grey matter is like a computer – but try as we may, our conscious thinking powers cannot be split along separate paths in the way that a computer can run multiple programs simultaneously.

It takes between a few milliseconds to several minutes for the brain to fully orientate to a new task, depending on the task’s complexity. When we dart like a butterfly beween tasks, the vast majority of us end up not doing any of them well: we make more mistakes, and become less able to remember new things. By continually switching focus – and maybe buzzing on stress-induced adrenaline – we can be blind to how unproductive we’re being. Those who think they’re experts at multitasking are actually the worst at it, thanks to the Dunning-Kruger effect. This is the human curse of exaggerarting our own abilities and no one is immune. The only way to gain a realistic insight into your skills is to be independently assessed.

To work with, not against, your brain, prioritise tasks so you know what needs to get done first, cut those email notifications, and avoid starting a job until you’ve prepared what you need to complete it.

SUPERTASKERS

A plucky 2.5% of us take multitasking to the next level: these supertaskers are, for example, able to take charge of a hospital Accident & Emergency Department, and not be fazed by a ward full of patients in pain, a crowd of relatives clamouring for attention, and another ambulance due to arrive in the next five minutes.

Somehow, the decision-making cabling in the supertasker’s brain is able to fire with great efficiency – doing more work with less effort. Supertasker’s can filter out unwanted distractions, remember details easily, and stay as cool as a cucumber when under extreme pressure.

You might wish you were one of this elite breed, but it seems to be impossible to learn these skills – being a supertasker may simply be down to your genetic “dice” rolling a double six.

CONCENTRATION

Complimentary to this topic is the issue of concentration and scientists have been thorough in their research in addressing the oft quoted question, ‘Will listening to music improve my concentration?’

Listening to music certainly nudges the brain during tedious work, but it remains a myth that listening to classical music will make you smarter.

First coined in 1991, the “Mozart Effect” became a craze among parents and students after a series of short experiments showed that some students performed slightly better in certain types of tests when taken shortly after a music lesson or listening to classical music. Newspapers and the media loved the story, whipping up these findings into “listening to Mozart makes you smarter” – which was a bold stretch of the imagination.

Since then, further research has shown that while background music does give a slight boost to spatial reasoning (the ability to imagine and answer questions about 2D and 3D objects), it doesn’t improve your score in IQ or academic tests. Even then, the improvement doesn’t last long, and the music doesn’t even need to be classical – any pleasant background sound helps you stay focused, and lively pop and rock tunes tend to come out best of all. So if you are undertaking spatial reasoning tasks such as repairing a gadget, map-reading, or video gaming, put on your favourite upbeat track.

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Health, Research, Science, Society

Is commuting harming our health?

COMMUTING

Intro: Some 4 billion people are known to travel between home and work, school, or college. Is the daily commute just something people love to hate, or a major health hazard?

SOME FORM OF COMMUTING has been part of our daily lives since the Neolithic age, and although many complain about their journeys, research shows that we wouldn’t want it any other way. We’re generally happiest when we have at least some distance between where we sleep and relax, and where we spend the bulk of our day. However, there are limits. People perceive their commute as part of their job, but if it makes us unhappy, we’re more likely to quit – so much so that an extra 20 minutes’ commuting time can reduce job satisfaction by the same amount as a 20 per cent pay cut.

Length of journey is the major factor in commuting: in the morning, your body clock is winding up the brain and body – alertness and attention increases with each passing minute, and if you’re stuck in traffic or a broken-down train during this precious primetime, then the most productive part of your day could be lost in transit. A morning journey of 45 minutes or more seems to be the tipping point at which the journey length starts to take a toll on physical and mental health. Workers who travel over 90 minutes each day are less fit, weigh more, and have higher blood pressure, compared to those with a shorter travel time. Longer commutes are also linked to health issues such as sleep problems, exhaustion, aches and pains, and overeating. Moreover, unpredictable and stressful delays, the chances of which increase the longer your commute, make the biggest negative impact on our health.

The method of travel also plays a part in how healthy your commute is. Driving takes the cake as the most stressful and unhealthiest way to commute. Public transport always comes out better, but simply using your legs to get to work – be it walking, cycling, or jogging – beats both.

Scientists have shown that a “good” commute is one that is long enough to give us time to draw a psychological line between homelife and work – but not so long that it makes us anxious, bored, or tired. Even if you work from home, you can benefit from a “virtual” commute by going for a short walk, run, or cycle to mark the start and end of your working day.

Research suggests that 15 minutes is the optimum length of time for a commute.

Want To Improve Your Commute?

. WALK, JOG, OR CYCLE – moving under your own power releases mood-lifting hormones and increases blood flow to the brain, making you happier and more productive.

. SIMPLIFY JOURNEYS that involve more than one stop; for example taking children to school on the way to work. Multiple-stage trips are the most stressful.

. PLAN YOUR DAY and spend the time mentally adjusting to work mode on the way in, and winding down on the journey home.

. FIND A NEW JOB if your commute is more than 90 minutes long – your health is probably suffering!

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