The physics demon inside us all
New Scientist
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Welcome once more to our weekly round-up of the best science and technology news stories from New Scientist. This time, we’re covering a small world with a big hole, the history of footwear and the best way to relax. Before all that, did you know you have a demon inside you?
Maxwell's demon imagined by physicists really exists inside our cells
This story is really wild. Maxwell’s demon is a thought experiment, dreamt up by physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1867, about a tiny creature that could manipulate gas molecules in a way that seems to violate the laws of thermodynamics. This paradox was resolved decades later – see the story for the full details why – but the really intriguing thing is that researchers have now discovered that a version of the demon actually evolved billions of years ago inside living cells.
Massive crater found on distant world far beyond Neptune
The outer reaches of the solar system are filled with relatively large objects – too big to be asteroids but maybe not quite even reaching dwarf planet status. This story looks at one known as? 2002 MS4, which is just 800 kilometres wide but seems to host a crater around 320 kilometres in diameter. What’s more, the rim of the crater is around 25 kilometres above the surface of the world, which would make it higher than the tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons on Mars. I’d love to see pictures!
Ancient humans may have worn shoes more than 100,000 years ago
Who was the first person to wear shoes? It’s a fascinating question, and one we’ll probably never answer, but researchers are making some progress into understanding the history of footwear, thanks to preserved footprints in South Africa that appear to have been made by someone wearing sandals.
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Jacob Aron,?News Editor
Practitioner Haematopathologist at KRG, Iraq
4 个月https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385880351_Ambient_Thermal_Energy_Harnessing_by_Novel_Evaposomsis_Cycles
Practitioner Haematopathologist at KRG, Iraq
4 个月I have a question please. The two different solutions can be separated by semipermeable membrane at the lower part, meanwhile, they can have different vapor pressure at their gas/liquid interface, as described by Raoult's law. Can we generate a novel cycle by vapor pressure gradient and subsequent reverse osmosis process?!? The cycle is beginning with more evaporation at the site of low solute concentration, then after, more condensation at the site of higher solute concentration, which increase hydrostatic pressure and this induce reverse osmosis to complete the cycle. Cycle 2: We can boost pressure gradient and energy harvesting capacity by adding a soluble gas with high vapor pressure like NH3, CO2 , HCl, etc. to the above cycle. All processes are the same as cycle 1 except for reverse osmosis which replaced by diffusion according to chemical potential of the dissolved gas or products like ( NH4OH or HCO3). I am happy to hear from you or other interested scientists.
Practitioner Haematopathologist at KRG, Iraq
10 个月Maxwell's Demon Turbine in one minute https://youtube.com/shorts/Enco4Nl617w?si=oZeIdEAZSOuWC1la
Practitioner Haematopathologist at KRG, Iraq
11 个月The mechanical Maxwell's demon described in these two preprints; 1. Experimental Demonstration of Energy Harvesting by Maxwell's Demon Device DOI: 10.20944/preprints202403.1698.v1 2. An Autonomous Mechanical Maxwell's Demon DOI: 10.14293/s2199-1006.1.sor-.pp5s6nk.v1
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1 年I don't believe that there is a demon that run in our cells