The following submission statement was provided by /u/alex20_202020:

Emphasis mine:

> A pilot project in which central heating boilers in homes run on hydrogen was authorized to continue. The project, run by grid operator Liander, is the first of its kind in the Netherlands.

> Ten existing homes in the Lochem project will be fitted with a combination boiler that runs on hydrogen instead of gas. From now on, the gas pipes to those houses will be used to supply hydrogen.

> At the moment there is no legislation regarding hydrogen projects. ACM has drawn up temporary rules to safeguard the rights of consumers. For example, households should be able to decide for themselves whether they will participate in a pilot project and there should be no difference for consumers between heating on gas and hydrogen. There must also always be sufficient hydrogen and the costs must be clear to consumers.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yobd6l/dutch_pilot_project_for_hydrogen_heated_homes/ivdecov/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/EnergyTransitionNews:

The share of renewable energy in Australia”s main grid soared to a new record of 68.7 per cent on Friday, easily beating the previous record of 64.1 per cent set on September 18.

The Australian Energy Market Operator says the new “instantaneous” renewable generation record was set 12:30pm, and was a 4.6% increase from the previous milestone set just a month earlier.

It also appears to be a new record for variable renewable energy – wind and solar – with an instantaneous share of 64 per cent

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yo3ymu/rooftop_solar_trumps_all_fossil_fuels_as/ivc5rs1/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Sariel007:

>Deep-sea exploration has long been largely a privilege of billionaires, fossil fuel companies, and a select few scientists from wealthy nations. This exclusivity has left the vast majority of the deep sea unexplored, its natural wonders understudied and vulnerable to exploitation. In recent years, scientists and conservationists have called for the democratization of the deep sea. They say this extreme region of the planet needs to be accessible to everyone. Now, a group of scientists, conservationists, and explorers has devised a low-cost device that is helping bring that goal closer to reality.

>Called the Maka Niu, which means “coconut eye” in Hawaiian, the device was initially created by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is now being developed by the nonprofit Ocean Discovery League. Looking like little more than a piece of PVC pipe stuffed with gadgets, the compact, customizable, and relatively inexpensive battery-powered data collector can capture video and measure depth, temperature, and salinity at depths as great as 1,500 meters. That’s about five times deeper than even the most specially trained scuba diver can go and deep enough to reach the ocean’s midnight zone, home to deep-sea animals like the vampire squid and chambered nautilus.

>A newer version of the Maka Niu can go even deeper says Katy Croff Bell, the deep-sea explorer, scientist, founder of the Ocean Discovery League, and leader of the MIT team. “We have designs that can go to 6,000 meters, which would enable it to reach 99 percent of the seafloor,” she says.

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The following submission statement was provided by /u/mutherhrg:

Chinese scientists say they have created a salt-tolerant soybean species that could reduce the country’s dependence on imports from places like Brazil, where soy production is driving deforestation.

The team from the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Jinan say their new soybean species can yield 4.5 tonnes per hectare – more than twice the average – in saline-alkali soil, the official Science and Technology Daily reported on July 28.

For the study, the scientists planted the soybean in places including the Xinjiang region and the Yellow River Delta, where soil salinity is a problem. They said most of the trial crops yielded far more than the average of 1.8 tonnes per hectare.

In China, about 100 million hectares of land is estimated to be affected by salinisation and soil degradation, about a third of it in Xinjiang in the far west. But if soybean could be cultivated on this land, there is potential to produce 450 million tonnes a year – almost five times the amount China imported in 2021.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yn1uqq/chinese_scientists_develop_salttolerant_soybean/iv6kox9/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

Here's a Twitter thread from lead researcher Deepak Pathak explaining more of this.

When sci-fi writers imagine future widespread robot adoption in society, it's usually with humanoid-type robots. The Will Smith movie "I, Robot" is a good example of this.

Perhaps it's quadrupeds that will get there first. Boston Dynamics Spot is useful enough that you could imagine it selling in tens or hundreds of millions of units around the world; if the price was right, however they cost $74,500. This version was built for $6,000 and the Unittree Go1sells for only $2,700.

If someone brings the functionality demonstrated here in something costing less than $3,000 I would imagine you will start seeing robot dogs everywhere, and they'll have to update any remake of I, Robot.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yn0gwn/carnegie_mellon_researchers_claim_they_have_used/iv6d9bs/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/mossadnik:

Submission Statement:

>Studies have estimated that cooling accounts for about 15% of global energy consumption. That demand could be lowered with a window coating that could block the sun’s ultraviolet and near-infrared light — the parts of the solar spectrum that typically pass through glass to heat an enclosed room. Energy use could be reduced even further if the coating radiates heat from the window’s surface at a wavelength that passes through the atmosphere into outer space. However, it’s difficult to design materials that can meet these criteria simultaneously and can also transmit visible light, meaning they don’t interfere with the view. Eungkyu Lee, Tengfei Luo and colleagues set out to design a “transparent radiative cooler” (TRC) that could do just that.

>The team constructed computer models of TRCs consisting of alternating thin layers of common materials like silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide or titanium dioxide on a glass base, topped with a film of polydimethylsiloxane. They optimized the type, order and combination of layers using an iterative approach guided by machine learning and quantum computing, which stores data using subatomic particles. This computing method carries out optimization faster and better than conventional computers because it can efficiently test all possible combinations in a fraction of a second. This produced a coating design that, when fabricated, beat the performance of conventionally designed TRCs in addition to one of the best commercial heat-reduction glasses on the market.

>In hot, dry cities, the researchers say, the optimized TRC could potentially reduce cooling energy consumption by 31% compared with conventional windows. They note their findings could be applied to other applications, since TRCs could also be used on car and truck windows. In addition, the group’s quantum computing-enabled optimization technique could be used to design other types of composite materials.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ymyadn/researchers_designed_a_transparent_window_coating/iv61thz/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

The summit in Egypt could be the world’s best hope of progress on the climate issue

The latest UN climate summit - COP27 - is reckoned to be the world's best hope of progress on the climate issue.

Progress is certainly needed.

The global effort to cut emissions is "woefully inadequate" and means the world is on track for "catastrophe", the UN warned last week.

But the meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh is shaping up to be a prickly and confrontational affair.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ym5125/cop27_why_the_latest_un_climate_conference_matters/iv1vr9y/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/tawhuac:

Submission statement:

Science reports dire outlooks, predicts catastrophic outcomes, and warns humanity of incumbent consequences of inaction.

Meanwhile, the business world, the "economy", the supposed motor, pillar and undisputed cornerstone of our society and even well-being, rewards just the opposite.

We can't expect any different outcome than ever worse news if the incentive system rewards exactly the opposite of what we should be doing

If at all, gains from fossil-fuel based gains should be heavily taxed.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ym3qgj/as_long_as_incentives_are_misaligned_its/iv1p1z4/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Soupjoe5:

Article:

1

A trial of how government, NASA and local officials would deal with a space rock headed toward Earth revealed gaps in the plans

On August 16, 2022 an approximately 70-meter asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere. At 2:02:10 P.M. EDT, the space rock exploded eight miles over Winston-Salem, N.C., with the energy of 10 megatons of TNT. The airburst virtually leveled the city and surrounding area. Casualties were in the thousands.

Well, not really. The destruction of Winston-Salem was the story line of the fourth Planetary Defense Tabletop Exercise, run by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The exercise was a simulation where academics, scientists and government officials gathered to practice how the United States would respond to a real planet-threatening asteroid. Held February 23–24, participants were both virtual and in-person, hailing from Washington D.C., the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) campus in Laurel, Md., Raleigh and Winston-Salem, N.C. The exercise included more than 200 participants from 16 different federal, state and local organizations. On August 5, the final report came out, and the message was stark: humanity is not yet ready to meet this threat.

On the plus side, the exercise was meant to be hard—practically unwinnable. “We designed it to fall right into the gap in our capabilities,” says Emma Rainey, an APL senior scientist who helped to create the simulation. “The participants could do nothing to prevent the impact.” The main goal was testing the different government and scientific networks that should respond in a real-life planetary defense situation. “We want to see how effective operations and communications are between U.S. government agencies and the other organizations that would be involved, and then identify shortcomings,” says Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA headquarters.

All in all, the exercise demonstrated that the United States doesn’t have the capability to intercept small, fast-moving asteroids, and our ability to see them is limited. Even if we could intercept space rocks, we may not be able to deflect one away from Earth, and using a nuclear weapon to destroy one is risky and filled with international legal issues. The trial also showed that misinformation—lies and false rumors spreading among the public—could drastically hamper the official effort. “Misinformation is not going away,” says Angela Stickle, a senior research scientist at APL who helped design and facilitate the exercise. “We put it into the simulation because we wanted feedback on how to counteract it and take action if it was malicious.”

Several key differences set this practice apart from previous ones in 2013, 2014 and 2016: First, this trial gave NASA’s Planetary Defense Office a chance to stress-test the National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan, released by the White House in 2018. The plan lays out the details of who does what and when within the federal government, which allowed this year’s exercise to involve more governmental agencies than in previous years—including state and local emergency responders for the first time. The simulation was also the first to include not just an impact but its immediate aftereffects.

Events started with the “discovery” of an asteroid named “TTX22” heading toward Earth. Participants were presented with a crash course in asteroid science and told everything that was known about the asteroid and the likelihood of an impact. Each meeting jumped ahead in the timeline, with the final installments set just before and after the asteroid’s impact near Winston-Salem.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ym13y6/nasa_asteroid_threat_practice_drill_shows_were/iv17cte/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/efh1:

I found this very interesting 5 dimensional theory that treats mass density as a 5th dimension and was created by a nuclear physicist that worked at Los Alamos National Labs. He was allowed to work on his theory for half his time he was there and published numerous technical papers concerning it. He even has a technical paper on designing experiments to test the theory in which he is an advisor created at the Air Force Space Technology Center. One of the most interesting predictions of his theory is a form of fusion that the standard model says is impossible that would make fusion energy far easier to attain. In a nutshell he predicts properly aligning the spin of hydrogen can lower the amount of energy necessary for a form of usually very rare fusion into helium to take place. Not only does this lower the energy requirements, but it it's aneutronic which means it doesn't produce radiation. I wouldn't have believed the claims myself if it wasn't for the fact he was a nuclear physicist with high security clearance and employment at LANL (he is currently deceased.)

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ym05le/exploring_5_dimensions_the_dynamic_theory_of/iv13qvg/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>The scientists believe that 3D-food printing technologies could be used to make custom meals for astronauts utilizing these modified yeast cells.
>
>Imagine food, rather like sushi or lasagna, where each layer presents a different color, taste and texture. Or a compact protein-like bar that tastes and smells exactly like banana.
>
>The innovative food system will also contribute to the circular economy, with the engineered foods leaving little to no waste for space travelers while maximizing food production capabilities off-Earth.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ym075w/the_future_of_space_food_using_bioengineered/iv11vut/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/DutchTechJunkie:

Flying cars have been a dream of mankind since, well, since there were cars. Prototypes have been around for decades. But now this dream is on the doorstep of becoming reality. More and more companies are developing flying cars, air taxis, passenger drones, or similar individual air transport vehicles. One of them, Lilium, is striking deals left and right. Of course, there are still legal and technical hurdles. But in the future, you can probably take an air taxi in Saudi Arabia.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ym03id/lilium_sells_hundred_electric_air_taxis_to/iv1158s/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/CPHfuturesstudies:

Submission statement: Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Some technological advances are so great that they create ruptures in our understanding of what is possible. Eighty years ago, such a rift took place via the invention of the atom bomb, transforming the way we conceive of warfare and global order.

Today, rapid advancements in scientific and technological progress hold that very same potential. From artificial intelligence to synthetic biology, experts and policymakers are beginning to dissect the potential consequences of adding unfamiliar, highly advanced, and potentially devastating new additions to the toolboxes of adversarial powers.

This article was first published in FARSIGHT. A quarterly publication from Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ylulvc/destruction_democratised_will_ai_synthetic/iv0arz4/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/sector3011:

The Congo peatlands are a huge carbon “timebomb” that could be triggered by the climate crisis, research has shown.

The peatlands, which span the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, are the largest in the tropics and cover 17m hectares (42m acres). They store a vast amount of carbon – the equivalent of three years of global fossil fuel emissions. They are also threatened by logging and oil and gas exploitation.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ylkflq/carbon_timebomb_climate_crisis_threatens_to/iuyvkis/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

The US capital markets regularly throw billions, if not tens of billions, at technology companies whose business models stretch credulity. Uber has raised $25 billion, and never once turned a profit.

Which raises the question, why aren't they interested in 3D printing of houses? There is a massive shortage of houses around the world and the construction staff to build them. Country after country on every continent lacks housing, poor and rich countries alike. It seems reasonable to assume global demand for 3D printed houses could be counted in the tens of millions, perhaps even more.

Apis Cor has a demonstrable record of achievement with its technology. Their most famous construction in Dubai looks of a standard many people would be perfectly happy with as a dwelling.

Yet they and the rest of this sector are shunned by capital markets - what gives?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yl8eph/apis_cor_may_be_americas_most_advanced_3d/iux1pz7/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Responsible-Hat5816:

The Methuselah Foundation (another Aubrey de Grey's foundation) has recently advocated for alternatives to animal testing, such as organs-on-a-chip and organoids, and they announced a prize to help foment research in the area:

>Passed unanimously in September by the U.S. Senate, the bill faces a promising outlook in the House...
>
>This rare consensus across bipartisan lines represents a scientific tipping point into an era where new technologies can now outperform animal studies for many indications, says cell biologist Don Ingber, the founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in Boston. Animal research continues to benefit people in a variety of ways and is unlikely to disappear altogether, he says. But given a strong preference for alternatives on both sides of the aisle, the change could potentially be a win for animals, people, and science.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yl5gb7/what_if_we_didnt_have_to_test_new_drugs_on/iuwjgww/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>The rapid expansion of commercial space activity, as well as its integration into key government programs and services, represents a leap into uncharted waters. The rise of entrepreneurial “New Space” companies will challenge the capacity of both individual states and the international community to regulate and coordinate private space activity effectively. As the cost of placing payloads in space declines, the political and strategic importance of commercial space flight will only grow. Ensuring space is governed responsibly will be essential.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yl1bqn/the_promise_and_perils_of_the_new_space_boom/iuvvnu7/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/chrisdh79:

From the article: Have you ever guessed that a leftover coffee could turn into biodiesel? Here's a remarkable development for bioscience.

Seemingly, Aston University scientists produced high-quality biodiesel microalgae fed on leftover coffee. According to Aston University's release, this development is also a breakthrough in the microalgal cultivation system.

Dr. Vesna Najdanovic, senior lecturer in chemical engineering, and Dr. Jiawei Wang were part of a team that produced algae and subsequently turned it into fuel.

The results of the study were published in the November 2022 issue of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

As stated by Aston University, approximately 98 million cups of coffee are drunk every day in the United Kingdom. This situation leads to a massive amount of spent coffee grounds which are processed as general waste, often ending up in landfill or incineration.

However, the scientists discovered that used coffee grounds serve as a structure for the microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris sp.) as well as a source of nutrients.

As a consequence, they were able to obtain enhanced biodiesel that complies with US and European standards, has low emissions, and has good engine performance.

Up until recently, algae has been grown on non-nutrient-containing surfaces like nylon and polyurethane foam. The scientists did discover, though, that microalgal cells may develop on the leftover coffee without the aid of other nutrients.

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The following submission statement was provided by /u/Soupjoe5:

Article:

1

Microbial molecules from soil, seawater and human bodies are among the planet’s least understood proteins.

When London-based Deep Mind unveiled predicted structures for some 220 million proteins this year, it covered nearly every protein from known organisms in DNA databases. Now, another tech giant is filling in the dark matter of our protein universe.

Researchers at Meta (formerly Facebook, headquartered in Menlo Park, California) have used artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the structures of some 600 million proteins from bacteria, viruses and other microbes that haven’t been characterized.

“These are the structures we know the least about. These are incredibly mysterious proteins. I think they offer the potential for great insight into biology,” says Alexander Rives, the research lead for Meta AI’s protein team.

The team generated the predictions — described in a 1 November preprint1 — using a ‘large language model’, a type of AI that are the basis for tools that can predict text from just a few letters or words.

Normally language models are trained on large volumes of text. To apply them to proteins, Rives and his colleagues fed them sequences to known proteins, which can be expressed by a chains of 20 different amino acids, each represented by a letter. The network then learned to ‘autocomplete’ proteins with a proportion of amino acids obscured.

Protein ‘autocomplete’

This training imbued the network with an intuitive understanding of protein sequences, which hold information about their shapes, says Rives. A second step — inspired by DeepMind’s pioneering protein structure AI AlphaFold — combines such insights with information about the relationships between known protein structures and sequences, to generate predicted structures from protein sequences.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ykj6sc/alphafolds_new_rival_meta_ai_predicts_shape_of/iutgxep/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

Scientists developed iron oxide nanoparticles with water-resistant coatings. They showed that microplastics in water bind to the particles, which can then be removed with a magnet.

The paper is here.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yke9cq/removing_plastic_pollution_from_water_using/iusrl1q/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

A recent research paper suggests that large-scale in-orbit robotic construction is going to need cooperative swarm robots and that this technology does not exist yet. What Redwire Space is doing looks like a step in the right direction.

This reminds me of another currently NASA-supported effort, SpinLaunch, and their kinetic launcher. One of its challenges is the massive G forces at launch and the damage it might do to electronics. That wouldn't be a problem if it was launching the base material 3D printers extrude for construction. SpinLaunch & Redwire Space might be perfect partners for each other.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yka5rx/nasafunded_redwire_space_wants_to_use_3d_printing/ius2nbv/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/WestEst101:

>The shipping industry is responsible for three per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions — an amount equivalent to what Germany emits every year. But across the globe, 99 per cent of shipping is currently powered by burning fossil fuels, such as bunker fuel and marine diesel. (As a replacement) Bio-methanol — which can be synthesized from any large biomass, such as crops — is a leading contender. "Bio-methanol is up and coming, and I think it's where we should go if we really want to go green," said Svensson. , which may be somewhat cheaper to produce than methanol, is another contender.

>"We need to [eliminate fossil fuel production] really quickly and that would knock out 40 per cent of shipping," said Sandford.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yk5zxi/with_cop27_on_the_horizon_shipping_industry/iure9qh/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/chrisdh79:

From the article: Studies have estimated that cooling accounts for about 15% of global energy consumption. That demand could be lowered with a window coating that could block the sun's ultraviolet and near-infrared light—the parts of the solar spectrum that typically pass through glass to heat an enclosed room. Energy use could be reduced even further if the coating radiates heat from the window's surface at a wavelength that passes through the atmosphere into outer space. However, it's difficult to design materials that can meet these criteria simultaneously and can also transmit visible light, meaning they don't interfere with the view. Eungkyu Lee, Tengfei Luo and colleagues set out to design a "transparent radiative cooler" (TRC) that could do just that.

The team constructed computer models of TRCs consisting of alternating thin layers of common materials like silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide or titanium dioxide on a glass base, topped with a film of polydimethylsiloxane. They optimized the type, order and combination of layers using an iterative approach guided by machine learning and quantum computing, which stores data using subatomic particles. This computing method carries out optimization faster and better than conventional computers because it can efficiently test all possible combinations in a fraction of a second. This produced a coating design that, when fabricated, beat the performance of conventionally designed TRCs in addition to one of the best commercial heat-reduction glasses on the market.

In hot, dry cities, the researchers say, the optimized TRC could potentially reduce cooling energy consumption by 31% compared with conventional windows. They note their findings could be applied to other applications, since TRCs could also be used on car and truck windows. In addition, the group's quantum computing-enabled optimization technique could be used to design other types of composite materials.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yk4cgd/clear_window_coating_could_cool_buildings_without/iur52hu/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/SpaceDepix:

This year is quite vibrant on new AI tech, with papers coming out in inspiring abundance. October was no exception. A multitude of papers on meta-learning, new SotA language models and techniques, advances in generative AI in various media formats. This post is an attempt to summarise and project some consequences of the recent developments.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/yk3892/multiple_breakthrough_papers_from_google_deepmind/iur01en/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/steel_member:

“Scientists were able to show that neutral-atom processors such as Aquila are suited to arranging atoms in graph patterns, and solving certain combinatorial optimization problems. Namely, these machines can encode the maximum independent set (MIS) problem, which has broad applications in optimization such as resource allocation, network design and others. The MIS problem can be cast as a variational problem which can be computed using iterative optimization cycles that combine a hybrid of quantum and classical operations.”

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