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 the weird water at the centre of Uranus, quantum messages from space and new developments in astronaut technology. For today’s Start-up Stories we’ll be talking about Pleo. As always, we’ve added extra stories under each article should you find yourself in a curious state of mind.
The gravity suit
Stylish and functional. Image credit: Ashari et al.
Researchers Built a “Gravity Suit” to Keep Astronauts Healthy
A team of researchers funded by NASA have created a negative pressure “gravity suit”. The suit is designed to protect astronauts from some of the challenges of time spent in microgravity.
Prolonged time in microgravity can cause a bunch of problems for astronauts, such as muscle atrophy. It can also lead to blood fluid pooling which can squish their brains. The suit is designed to counteract these dangers - the suit applies negative pressure to lower extremities, forcing blood to the area in question. The idea behind the suit is to create “ground reaction force” - the force exerted by the ground on a body standing on it - so that bone and muscle density aren’t affected by the missing gravity. The pressure is created by the suit’s portable vacuum system, which ensures full mobility and user-control.
According to the paper published by the researchers about the suit, “The mobile gravity suit is a small, untethered, and flexible intravehicular activity (IVA) suit.” “With the gravity suit, astronauts will be able to float freely around the space station while adhering to their every day tasks,” the paper further states. The device may end up being crucial for the journey to Mars.
Life in microgravity.
What lurks beneath
Our idea of ice has to change. Image credit: NASA/Victor Tangermann
Scientists: Prove Center of Uranus, You’ll Hit Some Weird Water
By using computer simulations to model planets’ interior, an international team of scientists got an unprecedented look at the strange watery cores of Uranus and Neptune.
Using these simulations, they were able to analyse the electric and thermal processes at the core of the two icy planets. These processes are usually physically impossible to reproduce on Earth. The researchers hope that the simulations will help them learn more about the formation and evolution of these massive, icy giants, as well as their magnetic fields.
The simulations allowed the team to explore the thermal and electrical conductivity at the atomic scale, for fractions of a nanosecond. From this, they learned that the ice in the cores of these planets is very different to the ice we have on Earth. According to Federico Grasselli and Stefano Baroni from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, first and last author of the paper, “In such exotic physical conditions, we cannot think of ice as we are used to. Even water is different, denser, with several molecules dissociated into positive and negative ions, thus carrying an electrical charge.” In other words, the “superionic water” is neither solid nor liquid; rather, it is somewhere in between. Hydrogen atoms are free to roam while oxygen molecules are tied together in a “crystalline lattice.” What this also means is that the cores of these planets, given their electrical conductivity, might have a large effect on the planets’ magnetic fields.
A short history of our solar system.
A quantum signal
A game-changer in encryption. Image credit: Needpix
Chinese Scientists Figured Out How to Beam Quantum Messages From Satellites
The length over which a quantum-encrypted message can be sent has just been vastly increased by a team of Chinese scientists.
The transmission, which travelled 756 miles from orbit to the ground, uses a form of quantum computer-proof encryption known as quantum key distribution. This is a record-breaking 12 times longer than the previous record. This has huge implications for both satellite communications and practical quantum computing.
For a long time, cybersecurity experts have warned that quantum computers, when they become practical, will render normal forms of encryption useless. The new experiment suggests that the sending of secure messages may still be possible. According to University of Science and Technology physicist Jian-Wei Pan “A remarkable feature of the entanglement-based quantum cryptography as we demonstrated here is that such security is ensured even if the satellite is controlled by an adversary.” Quantum computing is already incredibly fragile - signals are easily corruptible and the physics behind it all outrageously tricky. Beaming quantum signals through the vacuum of space is like a walk in the park.
Quantum computing cheat sheet.
Not just another brick in the wall
Eco-friendly bricks. Image credit: Kenoteq
Scottish Startup Creates Eco-Friendly Brick Using Construction Waste
Bricks, while crucial to society, aren’t very kind to the environment. To combat the adverse climate effects created by bricks, a team of engineers from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland created Kenoteq, a start-up that created an eco-friendly brick known as the K-Briq.
The K-Briq is made of 90% construction waste. What’s more, it doesn’t require a kiln to create, which means it produces only a tenth of the carbon emissions of a typical brick. The problem with conventional bricks is that they require many natural resources to produce, as well as a great deal of heat in shaping and production. The kilns used to make bricks also rely on fossil fuels, which contributes to climate change. The K-Briq, which can be made in a number of colours, is made from demolition waste, which minimises carbon emissions.
Kenoteq are already supplying their bricks to real projects - the K-Briq will be used in the construction of next year’s Serpentine Pavilion.
The surprisingly interesting history of bricks.
Start-up Stories
Pleo
Image credit: Pleo
Danish start-up Pleo offers smart credit cards that let employees buy the things they need for work. At the same time, Pleo allows a company’s finance director to stay in control of spending. Combined, this simplifies bookkeeping, eliminates the need for expense reports and helps push businesses forward.