Hello, and welcome to The Edge, the newsletter that brings you groundbreaking stories from the frontiers of technology and science.
We’ve got some great stories for you today including leaked details on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Google’s take on Pinterest and evidence for the axion particle. For today’s Start-up Stories we’ll be talking about Accion Systems. As always, we’ve added extra stories under each article should you find yourself in a curious state of mind.
Saucy details about Samsung’s next Note phone
Leaked image of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Image credit: TechRadar
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra revealed in full through leaked images and specs
For a while, no-one was really sure if Samsung were going to release a successor to the Galaxy Note 10 Plus - one source even went so far as to say the handset didn’t exist.
A new Twitter leak by Ice Universe has brought new life to the idea of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra though, and it’s hard not to get your hopes up. If these images are to be believed, it’s going to be a beautiful phone.
While leaks should always be taken with a pinch of salt, Ice Universe is usually on the money. They’ve leaked some of the specs for the handset as well, which look pretty damn impressive. Apparently, the phone will feature a Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset and a screen that supports QHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate at the same time, an upgrade on the Galaxy S20 range. The leak also claims that the phone will have new camera functions and a new S Pen, but doesn’t elaborate on the details. Another tweet revealed some details about bezels and the size of the phone, but not much else. We’ll have to wait and see what the Note 20 Ultra looks like, if/when it’s released sometime this year.
iPhone 12 leaks paint an exciting picture of Apple’s next flagship
Axions finally found?
Have we found the axion? Image credit: XENON1T Dark Matter Experiment
Physicist Say They’ve Found Evidence of Elusive Axion Particle
The axion - long-theorised and elusive - may finally have been found by an international team of physicists.
First suggested in the 1970s to account for discrepancies in particle physics, axions have become a popular way to explain the existence of dark matter, the material that makes up 85% of our universe’s mass. The recent discovery, made as part of the XENON1T Dark Matter Experiment and covered by the New York Times, could be our first direct evidence of the mysterious particles.
To make the discovery, the researchers set up two tons of ultra-pure liquified xenon in a vat under a mountain in Italy. Xenon is an incredibly stable noble gas - any particles that pass through it are therefore easy to detect. The team announced that they noticed a lot of events taking place in the vat - events where other particles would interact with xenon particles. The scientists couldn’t account for these events using the standard model of physics and there is therefore a chance that these events are caused by axions. Should this be true, and should further research support these findings, the world’s understanding of physics will change fundamentally.
What is dark matter?
Feeling Keen?
Keen, Google’s Pinterest. Image credit: The Verge
Google quietly launches an AI-powered Pinterest rival named Keen
Area 120, Google’s internal incubator that creates experimental services and apps, has launched Keen. Keen is a would-be rival to Pinterest that uses Google’s machine learning expertise to curate topics and is now available on the internet and Android.
While curated feeds and content aren’t groundbreaking (you’d be hard-pressed to find a social media platform that doesn’t curate feeds and content based on your preferences and usage), most social networks aren’t backed by Google and their extensive machine learning expertise. It’ll be interesting to see how Google uses its mettle to put machine learning and AI to the task of giving users curated, Pinterest-style Keen feeds.
How social media has changed us
A Martian chopper
Ingenuity separating from NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars, artist impression. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Nasa has built a helicopter to explore Mars and it’s finally ready to launch
Ingenuity, a helicopter NASA designed to fly on Mars, is finally ready and is preparing for launch in July.
Ingenuity is part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission which also features the Perseverance rover, a rover designed to help researchers determine if life on Mars was ever possible. The helicopter isn’t a core aspect of this mission, but it’s heading to the Red Planet to test NASA’s ability to fly on another world. Ingenuity has been in the works for six years but is now attached to the underside of Perseverance, where it will stay until the rover lands on Mars.
Ingenuity will attempt three flights on the Red Planet, although that number is subject to change depending on mission progress. Ingenuity will be at least 50 metres (160 feet) away from Perseverance when it takes flight and, with any luck, Perseverance will be able to observe it with one of its 23 onboard cameras.
Mars’ Curiosity rover is still going strong
Start-up Stories
Accion Systems
A thruster developed by Accion Systems: Image credit: Space News
Accion Systems is improving in-space propulsion with TILE (Tiled Ionic Liquid Electrospray), their flagship product.
By combining a non-toxic, ionic liquid propellant with a thruster the size of a postage stamp (image above), Accion Systems create electric propulsion systems for small satellites. Founded by two MIT engineers, Accion Systems finished their Series B in February of this year and hope to launch often in 2020 and 2021.
Accion Systems (alongside 13 other companies) was recently selected by NASA to work within NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The specific project they’ll be part of is designed to help replace the cold gas propulsion system with Accion’s more efficient electrospray.