laboratory

Science had been looking for an alternative to laboratory mice for years without success. Until he found the moths

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In the world of science, the mouse has been for decades the undisputed king of the laboratory. However, it is an expensive, slow and, above all, ethically complex reign. That is why we have been looking for alternatives for years, and the answer may not be in a silicon chipbut an insect that you have probably seen eating the wax of a beehive. The advance. This is what researchers at the University of Exeter have arrived at, who have achieved a milestone that promises to change the rules of the game in the fight against superbacteria: They have genetically “hacked” dinner moth larvae to function as real-time biological indicators. The most impressive thing is that they even have a very visual indicator: they shine when you get sick and go off when the medicine is working correctly. The biological traffic light. The study, published this week in Naturedetails how the research team has achieved what seemed impossible: applying tools of genetic editing advanced these moths with unprecedented precision. And I know this is very important, since using insects to model human diseases had limitations, but this team has combined two key techniques. The techniques. The first of them is the system PiggyBac to be able to insert genes that produce fluorescent proteins into these moths, so they have basically gone from having larvae to biological “neon lights.” In this way, if bacteria or fungi are injected, fluorescence makes it possible to monitor the infection in vivo under the microscope. In addition, the famous technique was also included CRISPR-Cas9 to deactivate specific genes in the insect’s body. This is a tremendously positive thing, as it allows scientists to manipulate the larva’s immune system to see how it reacts to different pathogens, mimicking complex human conditions. The key data. The bottom line is that the modified larvae allow us to see if an antibiotic is working in real time. The indicator we have is fluorescence, which if it decreases indicates that the bacteria is dying from the antibiotic and the larva is surviving. All this in a visual, fast and cheap way. Why the moth. It may sound strange to compare a moth with a mammal such as the mouse, which may be more like us, but the Galleria mellonella He has an ace up his sleeve: your body temperature. Unlike the fruit fly, these larvae can breed and survive comfortably at 37°C, the average human body temperature, which is crucial because many human pathogens only activate their virulence genes at that temperature. Furthermore, their innate immune system is surprisingly similar to that of mammals in terms of structure and function of phagocytes, the cells that literally ‘eat’ pathogens that enter the body. Furthermore, with this animal model the use of 10,000 mice per year in the United Kingdom alone can be avoided. Against the clock of the resistance. The context of this advance is not trivial, since we are facing a race against the resistance of bacteria to our antibiotics. We need at this moment test thousands of new compounds fastand doing it in mice is a brutal bottleneck both because of the time it takes and the ethical questions that arise. On the other hand, these transgenic larvae allow for massive screening. Instead of waiting weeks to see results in mice, scientists here can test hundreds of compounds in larvae and get immediate visual readings on toxicity and efficacy. Images | Wikipedia Kalyan Sak In Xataka | Researchers removed Instagram and TikTok from 300 young people to see if their anxiety decreased. The results speak for themselves

A Chinese laboratory has managed to generate electricity directly from rain, without occupying land or using metal

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Until now, the electricity from a storm came only from lightning. A Chinese team has just added another protagonist: a device that converts raindrops into usable energy. The invention comes from the Frontier Science Institute of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and will open a new avenue for renewable energies. Its technical name is Water-integrated Droplet Electricity Generator, or simply W-DEG. The discovery. What differentiates this generator from the rest is not its power, but its logic. According to the published article in National Science Reviewthe device floats on water and uses that same water as part of the electrical circuit. It requires no metals or heavy structures, and yet each drop of rain can release spikes of up to 250 volts. Light, cheap and efficient: a small hydrovoltaic revolution. Rain as a source of clean energy. The physical principle behind W-DEG combines two known phenomena: contact electrification and electrostatic induction. When a droplet impacts a floating dielectric film, electrical charges are instantly redistributed between the surface of the material and the water, generating an electrical pulse. Water acts at the same time as a lower electrode and structural support, thanks to its high surface tension and incompressibility: it is firm enough to withstand the impact of drops, but fluid enough to stabilize the system. To prevent pooled water from blocking new discharges, the researchers added micro-drainage holes that allow liquid to flow downward, but not upward. This design keeps the surface clean even during heavy rain and prevents loss of efficiency. A small prototype. The Nanjing team built a 0.3 square meter prototype. Floating on water, the device was able to illuminate 50 LED diodes simultaneously and charge capacitors in a matter of minutes. Its modular design allows it to be easily expanded to power environmental sensors, water quality monitoring systems or small electrical equipment in rainy areas. Furthermore, the W-DEG is a “soilless” system: it does not occupy agricultural or urban land and can be installed on bodies of water without heavy infrastructure. This makes it an ideal candidate for regions where rain is abundant and space is scarce, or where other renewable sources – such as solar or wind – are less constant. The rise of floating energies. The new Chinese generator arrives at a time when floating energy is experiencing a global boom. Floating solar panels are being installed on ponds and reservoirs around the world, from India until the swiss alpsto produce electricity and reduce water evaporation. However, a study from Cornell University revealed an unexpected effect: in small ponds, these installations can increase methane and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 27%, by altering the balance of aquatic ecosystems. Faced with this challenge, the W-DEG emerges as a more environmentally friendly alternative. By not covering the entire surface of the water or blocking sunlight, it allows energy to be generated without altering aquatic life or natural gas exchange. Will storms generate light? The technology is still in the experimental phase. The NUAA team itself recognizes that it will have to optimize the device’s response to droplets of different sizes and speeds, something essential for real conditions. But the potential is undeniable: a lightweight, economical and durable generator, capable of obtaining energy directly from the natural water cycle, without occupying land or generating waste. Researchers imagine swarms of these devices floating in lakes or reservoirs, charging environmental sensors or powering local microgrids during rain. If every storm could turn on a light or power a system, gray days would no longer be synonymous with a blackout. With inventions like this, the border between water and energy blurs, and nature begins—literally—to generate its own electricity. Image | Unsplash Xataka | China has launched its first floating solar park in the sea: panels that rise and fall with the tide

A laboratory has recreated the first molecule after the Big Bang. The result does not fit with our history of the universe

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In the beginning, God created heavens and earth. And the earth was without order and empty. And the darkness covered the surface of the abyss, and the Spirit of God moved on the surface of the waters. Then God said: Be the light. And there was light. Go if there was light. A little context. Just after the Big Bang, the universe was an unimaginably dense and hot place. But as it expanded and cooled, the matter began to organize. First, protons and neutrons formed the nuclei of the lighter elements. Three hundred eighty thousand years later, temperatures fell enough for electrons to join these nuclei, forming the first neutral atoms: mainly hydrogen and helium. And it was then, in that cosmic childhood, when chemistry was born. The first molecule. The first chemical bond of the universe was the helium hydride ion (HEH+). A simple molecule formed by an atom of neutral helium and a hydrogen core; That is, a proton. For decades, his role in the birth of the first stars was subject to intense debates and theoretical simulations. Now, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics in Germany has achieved recreate for the first time The reactions of this molecule in conditions similar to those of the primitive universe. The result has been a capital surprise that will force physicists to reconsider what they thought they knew about how the first lights lit. The first stars. After the formation of neutral atoms, the universe entered into A period known as the “dark age”. There were still no objects that emitted light, such as stars. For a star to be born, a gas cloud had to contract until enough density and temperature to start the nuclear fusion. But there is a problem: for the cloud to contract until that point due to gravity, it needed to dissipate heat. Below the 10,000 degrees Celsius, hydrogen atoms are not able to radiate that heat. This is where the molecules come into play. Helium hydride (heh+) can cool gas in a much more efficient way due to its strong dipole moment: it radiates heat emitting photons when rotating and vibrating. Something does not fit. Physicists believed that HEH+ had been a key cooling agent in the primitive universe. The problem was that HEH+ could also be destroyed by colliding with the omnipresent hydrogen atoms. Until now, the theoretical models predicted that the destruction reaction had slowed down drastically due to the very low temperatures of the primitive universe, but no one had verified it experimentally. The results of the experiment, published in the magazine Astronomy & AstrophysicsThey are completely unexpected. To the difference of all predictions, the reaction does not slow down at low temperatures. In fact, its speed remains almost constant. What physicists call a “reaction without barrier” occurs. Image | NASA, that In Xataka | The first molecule of the universe: after decades after it, we just discovered one of the key pieces of chemistry dawn

The US already has the first salmon cultivated in the laboratory. It is a relief for wipes who ask for the time

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The world is hungry for fish, but goes through areas. In Spain, Consumption is downhillso much that fishmongers want to reinvent themselves to serve our pets Before us. In other countries, such as China, That hunger is voraciousto the point that your folders They have been small And they are Going for those of Latin America. To avoid folding, there are those who investigate “alternative proteins”, And in the United States they have already developed the first salmon cultivated in the laboratory that is served in a restaurant. And with a series of advantages that does not really have salmon. Fish hunger. The forecasts They point out that the global aquatic food consumption will double by 2050 compared to the 2015 levels. That will imply that it will go from about 80 million tons annually to almost 155 million tons. The problem is that production must follow the rhythm. It is something promoted by population growth, the improvement of quality of life in certain countries and the development of aquaculture. As we say, China has a role in this story because it is not only the largest world consumer of fish, but it is also creating huge ships to raise new fish. And in Africa also An increase in demand is being seen. According to the FAOto maintain consumption until 2050, total production should increase by 22%, and is a capital challenge. That’s where the laboratory alternative becomes interesting. Cultivating salmon. Wildtype It is a company that has attracted to investors Like Jeff Bezos, Mandamás de Amazon, but also actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio or Robert Downey JR. Currently, they operate a factory in San Francisco and have just launched the ‘Saku’. This is cultivated salmon that is designed to eat when Sashimi stylewith a texture, flavor and ‘freshness’ comparable to really salmon. Here the key is to know how this salmon has been cultivated (it becomes weird to speak in those terms of a fish). The researchers extracted real salmon cells, specifically from salmon coho in their fry stage. In BIORREACTORS And using a patented “nutrient mixture”, cultivate those cells, combining the resulting cell mass with vegetable ingredients to replicate both the texture and the taste of traditional salmon. As they expose in The Washington Posta salmon can take about two years to mature, but in two weeks a 220 grams “fish” block can be created with the Wildtype method. And claim that it has a nutritional and omega-3 profile similar to that of wild salmon. One from Saku “NO OBJECTION”. And what do agencies that decide what enters, and what not, in circulation in the United States think? Well, they have no objections. ” Each country or region has a health entity that is the one that establishes a regulation that allows certain substances and products to be present in what we eat. They do not always agree, but if a product wants to enter a market, it must pass under the magnifying glass of that body. In the case of the United States, it is the FDA (Food and Medicines Administration of the United States) that, at the end of May, He gave permission to Wilkdtype so that your cultivated salmon is marketed. With that success, the cultivated salmon has already debuted in Kanna famous Haitian restaurant located in Portland, but it is expected that little by little it will arrive at more restaurants and shops in the form of ‘false’ packaging. Looking at the advantages. As with the coffee without coffeesalmon without salmon will allow maintaining the production of a very consumed food, but without continuing to measure in some wipes that agonize. But as important as sustainability, reduction of overfishing and habitat destruction which implies, is the issue of food security. This ‘Saku’ occurs in a production environment controlling, which minimizes exposure to pollutants, parasites and something that, unfortunately, is present in practically everything we eat, but above all the food from the sea: The microplastics. And another from Saku And the fishermen? When something that replaces something already established, the first question that comes to mind is what will happen to what moves to give way to the new. We have seen it from the Industrial Revolution, with AI and to Wimbledon with the Line judges being replaced by a computer. And, in this case, the question is whether something like this seeks to replace fishermen. Justin Kolceck is the co -founder of Wildtype and, in this article of the Washington Post, he comments that they do not seek to put fishermen outside the business or “eliminate the need for aquaculture. The amount of fish consumed is booming and the projections are so high that we will really need all the production we are doingin addition to the traditional and some more help in the world of plants to meet demand. For my part, I only have to add that in some Spanish supermarkets there is already salmon based on plants and oil and, although it reminds the taste of the animal, the texture does not look like. Maybe that Saku is the answer … Image | Lou Stejskal In Xataka | Until the 90s nobody in Japan ate sushi with raw salmon. Until a marketing campaign changed everything

The diamond industry promised them happy with the jewels cultivated in the laboratory. Until prices sank

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Few things better symbolize luxury than a good diamond. They shine in the shop windows of the most exclusive miles in Paris, Milan or New York, in Hands of Hollywood actresses and in The watches of the most sought -after soccer players on the planet. However, they do not run good times for precious stones. Not at least if we talk about your price. A perfect storm in which intrinsic factors are mixed and alien to the sector has shame its price until it is left, according to Some analystsin minimums that were not seen so far from the century. The big question is … What can we expect now? Prices, falling. It doesn’t matter which source is consulted. They do not run Good times For diamonds. The maximum expression of luxury, the great symbol of opulence, has been seeing how its value slides through a slope that moves it away from the dimensions that reached between 2021 and 2022, when the sector lived a “Exceptional demand” in the US market thanks to couples who had postponed their commitments or weddings for COVID-19. A few days ago Barcharta financial data platform, shared A graph which reflects the descending curve that precious stones have drawn from 2022 to place in what the signature considers “its lowest level of the century.” He Price index Paul Zimnisky for raw diamonds also show a “puncture” from the pandemic, although without even minimal record. And the panorama is similar in the graphics of Diamondse either Princescopewhich reflect the lowest values ​​from at least 2008 for natural jemas. Click on the image to go to Tweet. What show the figures? That if we talk about quotes, the diamond industry has lived better years. In February Bloomberg calculated that in a matter of two years prices had fallen almost 50% in the case of raw diamonds and 35% in polished stones. More or less for the same dates The Guardian revealed that in stores natural diamonds cost 26% less than two years ago, a considerable fall but that pales compared to the accumulated since 2020 by the created in the laboratory. Citing A Tenoris, a firm that tracks the prices of diamonds in more than 2,000 US stores, the British newspaper I pointed that at the end of last year the average price of a natural diamond of a quilate marked $ 4,997. In May 2022 it exceeded 6,800 pounds. In the case of “artificial” diamonds, $ 3.410 had passed in January from 2020 to 892 at the end of 2024. In their graphics Pricescope and Diamondse They also show falls. A perfect storm. The big question arrived at this point is … why? What motivates that price drop? The reality is that there is no single answer, but a cocktail of them, a mixture of factors that have impacted the market. Analysts point to a Change in demand After the health crisis, when prices rose thanks to the increase in postpandemic sales. Others point out the “puncture” of weddings, especially in the US, which is equivalent to less alliances and commitment rings; or even The effects of the Ukraine War in the sector. Another factor that explains the collapse is the behavior of the Chinese market, crucial for the industry. In February Bloomberg estimated that its demand had been reduced by 50% from the pandemia. And not just that. Citing experts in the sector, the agency said that, on average, the retailers of the Asian giant were returning to the wholesale market of India between 30 and 40 million dollars each month in surpluses of polished diamonds. All this in an economic context challenging For Beijing. Natural vs “artificial”. If something has really influenced the world diamond industry, beyond that we get married more or less, the covid hangover or the fall in demand in China, is the appearance of a new product in the market: the “synthetic” diamondscultivated in the laboratory and that have marked a before and after in the sector. Instead of requiring Millions of years of formation, as is the case with the mined natural jemas, a “synthetic” stone can take shape in a laboratory in a record time: a few weeks or Even hours. “Synthetic” diamonds are not exactly new. Its origins can go back to the 50s. However, in recent times they have broken into the market for several reasons. One of them is that their origins are easier to track than those of the mined jemas, which has gone “More ethical”especially in the eyes of the Millenials. Also influence its appearance and price, which becomes 70% lower to the natural stones. “They are much bigger stones,” Comment a jeweler to The Guardian. “About two or three more times. In laboratory, three carats is normal, even four or five.” Its attractiveness has caught attention Even of jewelry brands and watches specialized in luxury, in some cases with welcome in the market that exceed expectations. Of course, not everyone thinks the same. “They are synthetic, a bulk created product, without history. The price will continue to fall,” Vaticin Another jeweler. Winning weight in the market. In 2023 Five days public A graph (supporting tenoris data and the billing of 1,300 retailers of the sector) that demonstrate the growing weight of the diamonds grown in a key segment of the market: that of the US commitment rings. If at the beginning of 2021 they represented only 3.5%, in the summer of 2023 that percentage was already approaching 18%. In February The Guardian He went further and assured that synthetic diamonds already supposed 45% of the bridal jewelry market. The problem is that this growing weight has come accompanied by another word that analysts also frequently repeat: Overproduction. The analyst Paul Zimnisky was warned in March in An interview with The New York Times: “We are seeing that a small group of very large producers in China and India are increasing production with faster and better processes, and every time they do … Read more

Malaga gets fully into the chips industry. It is due to IMEC, the most important laboratory in Europe

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The Interuniversity Microelectronics Center or IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) It is not a research center. It is the most experienced laboratory in the tuning of New integration technologies to manufacture integrated circuits and nanotechnology that we have in Europe. In fact, its engineers They work side by side with ASML techniciansTSMC, Intel or Samsung with the purpose of jointly developing new semiconductor packaging technologies or avant -garde photolithography techniques. This research center is housed in Leuven (Belgium), but in 2030 it will have a new laboratory that will be located in Malaga Techpark, an ambitious technological park installed in this Andalusian capital. José Luis Escrivá, the former Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, announced the arrival of Imec to Malaga In January 2024, but a year and a half later we have more important information. According to Malaga today The total cost of these facilities will amount to 615 million euros. The central government will contribute 500 million and the Junta de Andalucía the remaining 115. On the other hand, the Malaga Center of IMEC will have a total area of ​​51,300 square meters, and, more importantly, it will use 200 people of high qualification. After all, these researchers will participate in the search for alternatives to the silicon in integrated circuit production processes, as well as in the development of new photolithography technologies that will pursue make possible the manufacture of chips below 1 Nm. However, in addition to these direct jobs, this research center will attract Malaga to other important companies involved in the semiconductor industry. This is the most ambitious IMEC project: to manufacture 3 angstroms chips According to Imec In 2035 integrated circuit manufacturers will begin large -scale production of 3 angstroms chips (0.3 Nm). This milestone is very important because presumably these will be the first semiconductors made of the UVE Hyper-á lithography equipment in which ASML is already working. However, of course, these machines will not arrive that year; They will be ready much earlier. That will be the time when Chips manufacturers will start large -scale production, but possibly this machine will be prepared at the end of this decade. In 2039 chips manufacturers will go beyond the 2 angstroms Anyway, the interesting thing is that the opening of the optics of these avant -garde lithography equipment will be, again according to IMEC, of ​​0.75 in the face of the opening of 0.55 UVE UVE MACHINESor 0.33 in Conventional UVE teams. In any case, the itinerary of this laboratory anticipates that In 2037 the integrated circuits of 2 angstroms will arriveand in 2039 chips manufacturers will pass this barrier and go beyond the 2 angstroms. In the article we dedicate to Rayleight criteria We explain in a lot of detail what the ‘Na’ parameter consists (Numerical Aperture), But in this text it is enough to know that this variable identifies the opening value of the optics used by the lithographic equipment. In this context this parameter essentially reflects the same as the opening value when we talk about The optics of a photo cameraso it conditions the amount of light that the optical elements They are able to collect. As we can intuit, the more light gathens, the better. Image | Laura Ockel | Wikimedia More information | IMEC In Xataka | China needs to develop a new type of immune chips to US sanctions. And their scientists have just achieved it

Japan has been a test laboratory for years to encourage birth. And he doesn’t have good news for the world

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Neither The aid. Nor the facilities for access education. Nor the improvement of working conditions. Not even attempts for Exercise “Casélro” and create new couples. The repeated attempts of the Japanese authorities to reactivate their Merm Birth They are clicking on bone and have not prevented the country from closing 2024 with a bleak demographic panorama. Its fertility rate is minimal, births have fallen below the barrier of 700,000 per year and the number of deaths far exceeds the babies. Thus, the country faces a question that They have been Considering analysts: what can a government really do to encourage birth? Can you avoid collapse by looking for everything to the measures of Economic cut? Birth. 2024 has not been a good year for Japanese demography. His Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Welfare has just confirmed it in A balance Desorator and confirms that, despite all its efforts, the country has not yet found the appropriate key to avoid collapse. Among all their data there are two special worrying and that give an idea of ​​the descending drift that is drawing its birth: the fertility rate and births. Last year the global fertility rate (the number of children that a woman would have if she lived until the end of her fertile life) It stood at 1.15. A bad result twice. Not only is it 0.05 points less than in 2023, but it leaves that indicator in historical minimums. This is the lowest recorded data From at least 1947which further away to Japan from the one known as Replacement ratethe necessary number of children (2,1) to maintain a stable population without taking into account immigration. In Tokyo that indicator It does not arrive Even 1. A fact: 686,000 babies (and down). The other devastating fact for Japanese demography is that of the number of births. In 2024 the Japanese Ministry of Health accounted for 686,000, 5.7% less that in 2023. It is the first time in addition (at least since 1899, when the official registration began) that the number of annual lighting was below the 700,000 barrier. The Japanese authorities already had the birth would cross that psychological red line, but they expected it to do so within several years. The forecasts of the National Institute for Research of the Population contemplated that 2024 be closed with some 755,000 new babies And that the births would not fall below the barrier of 690,000 to a decade and a half, in 2039. The predictions were pessimistic, but they have fallen short: that threshold crossed 15 years earlier than expected. ASAHI remember In fact, the 2024 data has coincided with the worst projection drawn by the body. Losing population. The data of the Ministry of Health show only the photograph of the native population resident in the country, excluding both foreigners born in Japan and Japanese born outside their borders; but reveals a serious problem in the demographic engine of the nation. The reason is simple: more Japanese die than they are born. The 686,061 babies scored in 2024 remain away from the 1.6 million of deaths (1.9% more than in 2023). That translates into a negative balance of 919,237 people, around 70,000 people more than the previous year. To understand what this data supposes in practice, Nikei Slide that equivalent more or less to lose all Kagawa in a matter of 12 years. That hole also adds to those that Japan has been suffering over the last years. After all, it carries almost two decades supporting more death than births, which is reflected in Evolution of its total population. A small ray of light: marriages. Among all these negative data the balance of the Ministry of Health leaves one in positive: the number of marriages. The organism registered 486,0632.2% more than in 2023. They remain at low levels and below half a million, but leave the first increase in two years. And that is very relevant to birth. Although in Spain and other EU countries it is increasingly common That couples have babies without going through the altar, in Japanese society births outside marriage or de facto couples are still rare: Nikei remember which in 2023 represented 2.5% of the total. A matter of state. Japan is not the only nation that dealt with birth problems. Something similar happens to South and China. And like them the Japanese authorities have deployed A wide fan of measures to try to reverse the trend that include from children’s subsidies or measures that facilitate education for initiatives to Promote creation of new couples. “Focusing children related to children and parenting is something that cannot expect or postpone,” warned two years ago! Fumio KishidaJapan’s Prime Minister until last October. The problem worries enough to Tokyo for its executive It would be proposed Raise public aid by son to levels similar to those of Sweden and thus avoid that the nation lost “its ability to operate as a society.” That same year the government announced An ambitious plan to encourage birth to deploying a millmillionaire investment. Can you solve with money? That is the question that leaves the last demographic balance of Japan and that have been raising analysts for a long time, both inside and outside the nation. Are economic -economic policies enough to encourage birth? There are those who indicate that at least these strategies must be accompanied by deeper changes and even A rethinking of certain ideas and attitudes rooted in their culture. In 2023 Tomas Sobotka, deputy director of the Institute of Demography of Vienna, He pointed out some keys that feed the demographic crisis and that go beyond subsidies or married policies. The list includes the delay in the age of motherhood, cultural and social changes that lead to young people choose to remain single and without children, a change in the homes themselves, the greatest presence of women in the labor market and a philosophy of life that prioritizes professional ambitions and leaves little time available for parenting. … Read more

It was an abandoned nuclear power plant. Now he has a second life as the most silent acoustic laboratory on the planet

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Two gigantic cooling towers of almost 150 meters high flank what clearly seems to be a nuclear power plant in a rural Washington area. It is actually the acoustic laboratory NWAA Labs, one of the most silent buildings on the planet. An abandoned nuclear power plant. The laboratory was built on the vestiges of a pharaonic project that never saw the light, the nuclear washington Projects of Elma. Plants 3 and 5, part of what was intended to be the largest nuclear energy complex in the United States, were abandoned in the 80s without fissting a single atom. Designed to resist all kinds of impacts and earthquakes, the structures would have been extremely expensive to demolish, so the NWAA Labs adapted to them. The reactor is the reverberation chamber, the turbine room is the anecoic chamber and the old reactor control room is the laboratory control room. The facilities, still marked, remain a “disturbing” maze. The ideal facilities. The NWAA Labs is a project by Ron Sauro, an electrical and mechanical engineer formed in Stanford that combined its beginnings in NASA with being the keyboardist of the group The Rivieras, authors of a gold record in 1963. After a life designing sound systems, Sauro saw the unique potential of this nuclear power plant abandoned to bombing proof. The outer structure, with walls of 1.5 meters thick and eight layers of reinforcement bars, is designed to support an earthquake of magnitude 10 and the direct impact of an explosion of 10 megatons on its roof. The interior structure is isolated from the surrounding terrain by a ditch that minimizes the transmission of vibrations and noise. In another ditch within this, a circular and steel circular container is erected, originally intended for the nuclear reactor. The entire installation rests on a sandstone layer of more than 3,000 meters thick. An almost absolute silence. Thanks to these structures, the NWAA Labs presumes to have the two largest reverberation cameras in the world. Salas where the sound bounces up to 28 seconds without absorbent material, which allows to measure the sound power of a source or the absorption capacity of a material. In addition to the reverberation cameras, the laboratory has anechoic cameras designed to absorb sound and simulate a space without reflections. In these rooms, silence is almost absolute. The background noise is -43 dB (below the human hearing threshold). In the old turbine room, 198 meters long by 106 wide by 24 high, the reflections take so long to arrive (more than 160 ms) that do not interfere with some measurements. Who uses this laboratory. The NWAA Labs performs tests for the audio industry. The speakers are 20% of their business: over here more than 3,000 speakers of some 300 professional brands and high fidelity have passed. But it is also offered to other industries, which prove construction materials, acoustic insulation here, and even noisy washing machines or aircraft cabins. The laboratory also attracts musicians, video game and filmmakers, fascinated by their acoustics and post-apocalyptic aesthetics. Image | Walter Siegmund (CC By 2.5)

He has just closed a key laboratory in Shanghai, according to SCMP

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Microsoft is one of the American technology with the greatest experience in China. Began operating in the country in 1992 and has since maintained several research centers. However, in recent months it has given replication signs in a context of growing geopolitical tensions. In May last year, It transpired that the company had started efforts to relocate between 700 and 800 employees, in addition to having carried out layoffs and to close their physical stores in the country. Now adds a new step: the closure of one of its most relevant laboratories in Zhangjiang, Shanghai. The label disappears, Microsoft too. According to Asian media as South China Morning E Post and it Homehe IoT & AI Insider Labcreated to boost national development in Internet Technologies of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), closed its doors earlier this year. The offices are empty and the company’s poster has already been removed. The laboratory was in a strategic area of ​​Shanghai, surrounded by key names of the technological sector. In that environment, companies such as Infineon Technologies, German semiconductor manufacturer, Baidu, the Chinese giant of internet searches, and the Commercial Aircraft manufacturer, have a presence. Zhangjiang High Technology Park (Baidu Maps capture) A Center with Global Ambition. The laboratory was inaugurated in May 2019 as a joint initiative between Microsoft China and the Zhangjiang state group. Its objective was to support the development of IA E IOT technologies applied to sectors such as industry, health, finance or retail trade. The IoT & AI Insider Lab in its inauguration in 2019 With an area of ​​2,800 square meters, it became the largest center of this type of Microsoft outside the United States. During his five years of operation, he supported 258 projects of about 100 companies. More than 50 of them captured financing worth 9.4 billion yuan (about 1.3 billion dollars). He also generated 139 technological developments and trained about 10,000 professionals. A replication underway. As we point out above, the closure of this center does not arrive by surprise. In 2023, Microsoft had already begun to offer relocations to employees of the Artificial Intelligence Area, in addition to closing all its physical stores in China and applying personnel cuts. In parallel, the company has hardened its internal security policies. According to BloombergIn 2024 he urged all his employees in China to use exclusively iPhones to access corporate platforms. The measure was related to the lack of access to Google Play in the country, which prevented the use of applications such as Microsoft Authenticator or Identity Pass on Android. In the search for greater security The withdrawal in China coincides with a Internal Security Review in Microsoftafter a wave of criticism for the management of computer attacks. A Russian group, identified as Midnight Blizzard, accessed corporate accounts and stole sensitive emails sent between federal agencies and the company. Images | Microsoft | ABODI VESAKARAN | Baidu Maps capture In Xataka | Huawei is beating income record thanks to China. It is just the beginning of his new era

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