Category Archives: Futurism

In BriefJobs in the solar field in the United States grew at a rate 17times faster than the overall economy. This was part of a largertrend towards jobs in renewable energy and away from moredangerous, less sustainable jobs in fossil fuels. Jobs in Solar Power

A new report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reveals that solar jobs in the U.S. (and other nations) are expanding quickly. As of November 2016, the American solar industry employed 260,077 workers. This is an increase of 24.5% from 2015, with a growth rate that is 17 times faster than the United States economy as a whole.

The lions share of these jobs(241,900) were in solar photovoltaics, with an additional 13,000 in solar heating and cooling, and the remaining 5,200 in concentrated solar power (CSP). More than half of all solar jobs in the U.S. were in installation. Another 15% were in manufacturing, with 13% in project development, 12% in sales and distribution, and a final 6% in other areas, including research and development.

The sunlight that is harvested by solar systems is, obviously, free. This makes labor costs and materials the main areas of spending in the solar industry. As costs for materials continue to drop, solar jobs remain a well-compensated area for blue-collar workers. The solar labor force is also becoming more diverse, with the number of women workers at 28% in 2016, up from 19% in 2013, with up to33.8% in the sales and distribution area. This means more women have jobs in solar than in the conventional energy industry, although women in solar still lag behind their representative 47% of the U.S. economy.

Solar jobs arent the only thriving area in the U.S. economy right now. Wind industry employment produced around 102,500 jobs in 2016, which IRENA projects will grow to 147,000 jobs by 2020. Jobs in ethanol declined despite increased production due to rising labor productivity; most ethanol-related jobs (about 161,700) were in agriculture, with about 35,000 jobs in actual ethanol production. 23% more biodiesel production in 2016 meant a corresponding 23% in jobs, about 61,100 total, with almost 80,000 total in direct and indirect employment in solid biomass. Finally, there were about 7,000 biogas jobs in the U.S. in 2016.

Jobs in fossil fuels are going away as the sources of the fuels become scarcer and less expensive options become available. As R&D overcomes more of the stumbling blocks to bringing power from renewable sources into the grid and prices continue to drop, we can expect to see more jobs in renewables. They are safer, healthier, and more sustainable than jobs in the fossil fuel industry, so this is great for our labor force as well as the planet.

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The Solar Industry Is Creating Jobs 17 Times Faster Than the Rest of the US Economy - Futurism

In BriefPhysicists have developed a method that could potentially spota previously hidden force in the universe. If proven to exists,this fifth force could change how we model physics itself. Redefining Physics

For the most part, we seem to have our universe figured out: there are four fundamental forces that govern the interactions of every conceivable object, from atoms to planets. These four the weak and strong nuclear forces, electromagnetic force, and gravity explain all there is. Except they dont, really.

As much as weve understood these forces, there are still phenomena that the standard model of physics and Einsteins theory of general relativity dont quite make explain. For instance, theres more gravity in space than what all visible matter can supposedly produce. Thats why some suggest undiscovered dark matteras the source of this, or as other physicists suggests, that a hidden fifth force is out there. One such physicist isAndrea Ghez, director at the University of California, Los Angeles, Galactic Center Group.

The key to detecting this fifth force, according to Ghez and her team, is studying the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the stars around it. By watching the stars move over 20 years using very precise measurements taken from Keck Observatory data, you can see and put constraints on how gravity works, she explained in a press release. If gravitation is driven by something other than Einsteins theory of General Relativity, youll see small variations in the orbital paths of the stars. They published their method in the journal Physical Review Letters.

This research could go a long way to answering questions that have risen since Einstein published his theories, Ghez said.

Einsteins theory describes [gravity] beautifully well, but theres lots of evidence showing the theory has holes, Ghez said in her interview for the press release. The mere existence of supermassive black holes tells us that our current theories of how the Universe works are inadequate to explain what a black hole is.

In particular, the team is excited to observe a star called S0-2 as it passes closer than ever to the Milky Ways supermassive black hole next year. If the orbital path of these stars show deviations from what general relativity predicts, then the researchers might discoverclues about the supposed fifth force.

If a fifth force does exist and Ghezs method discovers it, wed probably need to reexamine the physics of our Universe. This is really exciting. Its taken us 20 years to get here, but now our work on studying stars at the center of our galaxy is opening up a new method of looking at how gravity works, Ghez said in the interview.

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Our Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole May Reveal the Universe's Hidden Fifth Force - Futurism

In Brief

On Twitter, NASA announced that on Wednesday,May 31, it will provide more details about a mission to send its Solar Prob Plusseven times closer to the Sun than any spacecraft has gone before.The probes website says its launch window will be between July 31 and August 19, 2018.

The probe will fly within about 6.4 million kilometers (4 million miles) of the Suns surface, facing temperatures of 1,400 Celcius (2,500 Fahrenheit) and huge amounts of radiation. For protection against the extreme conditions it will use a 11.4-centimeter (4.5-inch) thick carbon-composite shield.

The probe will attempt to orbit the Sun 24 times in sixyears and 11 months, using seven Venus gravity-assisted flybys to help it achieve speeds of nearly 725,000 kilometers (450,000 miles) per hour.

The mission will help us understand more about the nature of our solar system by discovering the star at the heart of it. The probe has three central objectives:

Trace the flow of energy that heats and accelerates the solar corona and solar wind.

Determine the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields at the sources of the solar wind.

Explore mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles.

While this will give us insight for further studying the star powering warming our world, it will also serve a crucial social purpose: to garner more information on solar weather to help us protect our planet and satellites. NASA estimates that a huge unpredicted solar event could knock out satellites and cost the U.S. alone up to $2 trillion in damage potentially even causing long-term electricity shortages worldwide.

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Tomorrow, NASA Will Make a Major Announcement About a New Mission To Touch the Sun - Futurism

In Brief Cryptocurrencies are rising in popularity, thanks to Bitcoin, the world's most famous decentralized digital coin. With growing mainstream uses and increasing market value, could Bitcoin be the future of financial transactions? The Cryptocurrency Trend

The rise of Bitcoin has become undeniable: while it was once notoriously relegated to the darkest corners of the web, its ascension to become one of the worlds most popular cryptocurrencies has been rapid. Its become even more difficult to deny in the last few months.

In 2016, Bitcoin surged past the value of all bank-issued currency. Its been breaking all-time high market valuation recordssince February even momentarily surpassing goldbackin March. Currently, Bitcoin is at valued at $2,482.05 (at time of publication).

Things have been downright phenomenal for Bitcoin as of late. Its hit another record just this week, landing on the top 5 Google searches in the United States on Monday. Those of you whove been following Bitcoins growing legacy are probably already familiar with why last Monday was special: seven years ago, on May 22, 2010, someone bought two pizzas using 10,000 Bitcoin. Today, that would be worth some $20 million. That date is now celebrated among Bitcoin users as Bitcoin Pizza Day a remembrance of possibly the most expensive pizzas ever bought and for Bitcoins meteoricrise to fame.

Bitcoin may have some competition hot on its heels, though: anothercryptocurrency called Ethereumis coming in at number 18 in the top search results. Ethereums rising popularity isespecially of interest among enterprise users.

Bitcoins growing popularity isnt just a testament to the future of cryptocurrency; its also proof of the reliability of the technology behind it called blockchain. As a potentially more secure and decentralized system of data ledgers, blockchain has attracted a great deal of attentionfrom a number of sectors, although its becomeespecially popular in finance. Still, its proving to not be limited to such fiscal ventures. Indeed, the future of financeas a whole could be in cryptocurrency and a blockchain-based economy.

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Bitcoin and Ethereum Were Two of Google's Most Popular Searches This Week - Futurism

In BriefA new study from the University of British Columbia postulatesthat the Universe is expanding due to fluctuations in space andtime. Conflicting theories have contributed to confusion, but thestudy could lead to a better understanding of dark energy.

Since the late 1920s, astronomers have been aware of the fact that the Universe is in a state of expansion. Initially predicted by Einsteins Theory of General Relativity, this realization has gone on to inform the most widely-accepted cosmological model the Big Bang Theory. However, things became somewhat confusing during the 1990s, when improved observations showed that the Universes rate of expansion has been accelerating for billions of years.

This led to the theory of dark energy, a mysterious invisible force that is driving the expansion of the cosmos. Much like dark matterwhich explained the missing mass, it then became necessary to find this elusive energy, or at least provide a coherent theoretical framework for it. A new study from the University of British Columbia (UBC) seeks to do just that by postulating the Universe is expanding due to fluctuations in space and time.

The study which was recently published in the journal Physical Review D was led by Qingdi Wang, a PhD student with the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC. Under the supervisions of UBC Professor William Unruh (the man who proposed the Unruh Effect) and with assistance from Zhen Zhu (another PhD student at UBC), they provide a new take on dark energy.

The team began by addressing the inconsistencies arising out of the two main theories that together explain all natural phenomena in the Universe. These theories are none other than general relativity and quantum mechanics, which effectively explain how the Universe behaves on the largest of scales (i.e. stars, galaxies, clusters) and the smallest (subatomic particles).

Unfortunately, these two theories are not consistent when it comes to a little matter known as gravity, which scientists are still unable to explain in terms of quantum mechanics. The existence of dark energy and the expansion of the Universe are another point of disagreement. For starters, candidates theories like vacuum energy which is one of the most popular explanations for dark energy present serious incongruities.

According to quantum mechanics, vacuum energy would have an incredibly large energy density to it. But if this is true, then general relativity predicts that this energy would have an incredibly strong gravitational effect, one which would be powerful enough to cause the Universe to explode in size. As Prof. Unruh shared with Universe Today via email:

The problem is that any naive calculation of the vacuum energy gives huge values. If one assumes that there is some sort of cutoff so one cannot get energy densities much greater than the Planck energy density (or about 1095 Joules/meter) then one finds that one gets a Hubble constant the time scale on which the Universe roughly doubles in size of the order of 10-44 sec. So, the usual approach is to say that somehow something reduces that down so that one gets the actual expansion rate of about 10 billion years instead. But that somehow is pretty mysterious and no one has come up with an even half convincing mechanism.

Whereas other scientists have sought to modify the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics in order to resolve these inconsistencies, Wang and his colleagues sought a different approach. As Wang explained to Universe Today via email:

Previous studies are either trying to modify quantum mechanics in some way to make vacuum energy small or trying to modify General Relativity in some way to make gravity numb for vacuum energy. However, quantum mechanics and General Relativity are the two most successful theories that explain how our Universe works Instead of trying to modify quantum mechanics or General Relativity, we believe that we should first understand them better. We takes the large vacuum energy density predicted by quantum mechanics seriously and just let them gravitate according to General Relativity without modifying either of them.

For the sake of their study, Wang and his colleagues performed new sets of calculations on vacuum energy that took its predicted high energy density into account. They then considered the possibility that on the tiniest of scales billions of times smaller than electrons the fabric of spacetime is subject to wild fluctuations, oscillating at every point between expansion and contraction.

As it swings back and forth, the result of these oscillations is a net effect where the Universe expands slowly, but at an accelerating rate. After performing their calculations, they noted that such an explanation was consistent with both the existence of quantum vacuum energy density and general relativity. On top of that, it is also consistent with what scientists have been observing in our Universe for almost a century. As Unruh described it:

Our calculations showed that one could consistently regard [that] the Universe on the tiniest scales is actually expanding and contracting at an absurdly fast rate; but that on a large scale, because of an averaging over those tiny scales, physics would not notice that quantum foam. It has a tiny residual effect in giving an effective cosmological constant (dark energy type effect). In some ways it is like waves on the ocean which travel as if the ocean were perfectly smooth but really we know that there is this incredible dance of the atoms that make up the water, and waves average over those fluctuations, and act as if the surface was smooth.

In contrast to conflicting theories of a Universe where the various forces that govern it cannot be resolved and must cancel each other out, Wang and his colleagues presents a picture where the Universe is constantly in motion. In this scenario, the effects of vacuum energy are actually self-cancelling, and also give rise to the expansion and acceleration we have been observing all this time.

While it may be too soon to tell, this image of a Universe that is highly-dynamic (even on the tiniest scales) could revolutionize our understanding of spacetime. At the very least, these theoretical findings are sure to stimulate debate within the scientific community, as well as experiments designed to offer direct evidence. And that, as we know, is the only way we can advance our understanding of this thing known as the Universe.

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New Explanation for Dark Energy? Tiny Fluctuations of Time and ... - Futurism

In Brief In a new study, cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive part of the marijuana plant, has been shown to combat the seizure symptoms experienced by people suffering from Dravet Syndrome. Because CBD does not produce a high, it could potentially bypass the ethical trouble associated with medicinal marijuana. Cannabidol and Dravets

A study has foundthat cannabidiol (CBD) a substance thats found in cannabis but that does not produce the high for which the plant is known can reduce the number of seizures for sufferers of Dravet Syndrome.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human trial considered the pinnacle of medical drug testing CBD was shown to decreaseseizure symptoms by 23 percent more than the placebo group. This resultwas consistent across the sample, which included participants ranging in age from two to 18 years old.

Although 93 percent of children who received the drug had negative side effects including diarrhea, fatigue, some liver issues, and vomiting 75 percent of those who received the placebo did as well.

Despite the side effects, this is an extremely promising avenue for the children who are sufferers of Dravet Syndrome. No other epilepsy medication is known to combat Dravet Syndrome, and up to one-fifth of childrenwho develop it die by the age of 20, so any breakthroughs in treatment are huge.

However, Dr. Orrin Devinsky, lead author of the study and director of NYU Langones Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, was sure to manage expectations regarding his research, telling CNN, CBD is an effective drug for this type of rare epilepsy but was not a panacea (or cure-all) for these children.

This research is significant beyond its potential to help treat epilepsy. CBD has been a big player in the medicinal marijuana debate as it can be independently extracted and does not produce a high.

Previous opposition to the use of marijuana in a medicinal context has centered around an abuse of the system due to the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the drug getting users high. Any proof that CBD is effective on its own eliminates that concern and could help treatments overcome current legislative hurdles, speeding up the process of getting the medications to the patients who need them.

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Study Shows Marijuana Can Effectively Treat a Severe and Often Fatal Epilepsy Disorder - Futurism