The
Eclectic
Newsletter
Vol. 1, No. 3
Happy Day, everyone!
Here we are in our third issue already. My, how time flies!
Geothermal Energy 🔥
I ran across this article a couple of weeks ago and was curious. I’ve heard of geothermal power before but didn’t know much about it.
Google has partnered with a company out of Texas to provide geothermal energy to one of their data processing facilities in Utah. This is becoming the new direction for energy production.
So, for those who don’t know (like me), here’s a quick quote from the article I read.
“Fervo pumps cold water down an injection well, then over hot rock underground to another well, the production well. The path between is created by fracking or fracturing the rock. The water heats up to nearly 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) before returning to the surface. Once there, it transfers its heat to another liquid with a low boiling point, creating steam. The pressure of steam expanding spins a turbine to produce electricity like in a coal or natural gas-fired plant. The geothermal water, now cooled, is put back down the injection well to start the cycle again in a closed-loop system.”
While it seems straightforward enough, I have a question. What happens to the planet’s core temperature over the long haul if many of these geothermal wells are created?
One of those things that make you go, “Hmm.” I hope some scientists are studying the long-term effects of this process.
Plant or Animal? 🍃🐢
Moving on, scientists have changed their minds about the classification of a particular type of fossil. Initially considered a fossilized plant, these objects have now been reclassified as animal fossils.
Get this… with a twist of humor, these fossils have been named after a Pokémon character!
These fossils that look like leaf-like patterns are now known to be baby turtle carapaces. So scientists have nicknamed them after the half-turtle, half-plant game character “Turtwig.”
The fossils were discovered in northern South America between the 1950s and the 1970s. Other scientists were surprised when the discoverer described them as a particular plant species and dated them between 113 million and 132 million years ago.
The plant species had already been extinct more than 100 million years before these specimens were created. Paleobotanists and paleontologists worked together to solve the mystery.
Their findings confirmed that not only were these, not plants but turtles, they were hatchlings. This accounted for their tiny size. Their age was estimated to be approximately a year old when they died.
It’s fantastic that scientists continue to solve the mysteries of our planet’s evolution, even when it takes decades to determine there is a mystery to solve.
Is it Human? Or Not? 🧠🤖
Researchers are blurring the lines between human beings and non-human intelligence.
Brainoware is the system created by using brain organoids. The article I read states, “Organoids are made from stem cells capable of specialising into different types of cells. In this case, they were morphed into neurons, akin to those found in our brains.”
One of these organoids was placed on a plate that contained thousands of electrodes. This allowed the brain tissue to connect to electric circuits.
Input information was converted to a pattern of electrical pulses for delivery to the organoid. Responses from the tissue, picked up by sensors, were decoded using machine learning.
To test the Brainoware, eight people created 240 voice recordings. Each voice produced a unique pattern of neural activity in the organoid. Researchers then used AI to interpret the responses, attempting to identify the speaker.
The test had an accuracy rate of 78%!
This was a minimal model, and much more research is needed to create a system that could handle complex tasks.
However, this research could also provide insights into studying the brain, brain-related diseases, and the effects of various treatments.
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