Scientists Are Developing A Technique To Control The Weather With Laser-Beams

In a breakthrough that could permanently ameliorate the threat of thinning water supplies in California and much of the western US, a team of scientists says it will soon be able to induce rainfall and lightning storms by firing high-energy laser beams into the heavens.

Express reports that the breakthrough involves manipulating the static electricity present in clouds – which, after all, are just balls of condensation, triggering rainfall, according to experts at the University of Central Florida and the University of Arizona.

A six year drought in California was finally declared over this year but the threat for the south-western state as well as other locations in the world remains the same.

But scientists may now be able to induce rain and lightning storms using high energy lasers in a breakthrough that could potentially eradicate droughts throughout the globe.

The possibility of condensation, lightning and storms are ever present in the clouds and are containED through high amounts of static electricity.

Experts from the University of Central Florida and the University of Arizona believe that by firing a series of laser beams, they can activate the static electricity and induce rain and storms.

Here’s how it would work: One beam would be fired into the clouds to stimulate rainfall. Then, a second beam would surround the first beam to help sustain it for longer.

“When a laser beam becomes intense enough, it behaves differently than usual – it collapses inward on itself,” said Matthew Mills, a graduate student in the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL).

“The collapse becomes so intense that electrons in the air’s oxygen and nitrogen are ripped off creating plasma – basically a soup of electrons.”

This struggle is known as “filamentation” and creates a “light string” that only lasts for a short time before it disperses – hence the need for the second beam.

However, “because a filament creates excited electrons in its wake as it moves, it artificially seeds the conditions necessary for rain and lightning to occur.”

And, as it turns out, “if you wrap a large, low intensity, doughnut-like ‘dress’ beam around the filament and slowly move it inward, you can provide this arbitrary extension.

“Since we have control over the length of a filament with our method, one could seed the conditions needed for a rainstorm from afar," Mills continued.

“Ultimately, you could artificially control the rain and lightning over a large expanse with such ideas.”

One of the scientists involved with the study appeared on CBS This Morning on Thursday to explain how the technology would work in more detail:

 

Fusion: Will Humanity Ever Harness Star Power?

Fusion is the epitome of “high risk, high reward” scientific research.

If we were to ever successfully harness the forces that power the stars, mankind could have access to power that is almost literally too cheap to meter. However, as Visual Capitalist"s Nick Routley notes, reaching that goal will be a very expensive, long-term commitment – and it’s also very possible that we may never achieve a commercially viable method of fusion power generation.

Today’s video, by the talented team at Kurzgesagt, explains how fusion works, what experiments are ongoing, and the pros and cons of pursuing fusion power generation.

HOW FUSION WORKS

Fusion involves heating nuclei of atoms – usually isotopes of hydrogen – to temperatures in the millions of degrees. At extreme temperatures, atoms are stripped of their electrons and nuclei move so quickly that they overcome their “mutual repulsion”, joining together to form a heavier nucleus. This process gives off massive amounts of energy that investors and researchers hope will propel mankind into an era of cheap and abundant electricity, but without the downsides of many other forms of energy.

I would like nuclear fusion to become a practical power source. It would provide an inexhaustible supply of energy, without pollution or global warming.

– Stephen Hawking, award-winning theoretical physicist

Stars are so large that fusion occurs naturally in their cores – but here on Earth, we’re trying a number of complex methods in the hopes of replicating that process to achieve positive net energy.

The Cost of Bottling a Star

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), an experimental reactor currently being built in the south of France, will house the world’s largest ever tokamak – a doughnut-shaped reactor that uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma. Construction of the facility began in 2013 and is expected to cost €20 billion upon completion in 2021.

Source: Visual Capitalist

Research organizations see ITER as a crucial step in realizing fusion. Though the facility is not designed to generate electricity, it would pave the way for functional reactors.

Competition is Heating Up

There are some who claim that the bureaucracy of government-funded labs is hampering the process. As a result, there is a pack of private companies, fueled by high-profile investors, looking to make commercially-viable fusion into a reality.

Tri Alpha, a company in southern California, is hoping their method of spinning magnetized plasma inside a containment vessel will be a lower-cost method of power generation than ITER. In 2015, they held super-heated hydrogen plasma in a stable state for 5 milliseconds, which is a huge deal in the world of fusion research. The company has attracted over $500 million in investment in the past 20 years, and has the backing of Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen.

Helion Energy, located in Redmond, Washington, believes they are only a few years away from creating nuclear fusion that can be used as a source for electricity. Their reaction is created by colliding two plasma balls made of hydrogen atom cores at one million miles per hour. Helion Energy’s ongoing research is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program, which the Trump administration slated for elimination. Thankfully, Helion still counts Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital and Y Combinator as supporters.

General Fusion, located in Burnaby, B.C., is taking a different approach. Their piston-based reactor is designed to create energy bursts lasting thousandths of seconds, rather than a sustained plasma reaction. Heat recovered bursts would be used to generate electricity much like nuclear power plants, minus the long-term radioactive waste. General Fusion has attracted millions of dollars in funding, including investment from Bezos Expeditions and the Business Development Bank of Canada.

Time Horizon

Though commercially viable fusion is still a long way off, each new technological breakthrough brings us one step closer. With such a massive payoff for success, research will likely only increase as we get closer to bottling a star here on Earth.

Source: Visual Capitalist

Could Umbilical Cord Blood Rejuvenate Brains’ Memory Functions?

When a baby comes into the world, the umbilical cord usually gets thrown away. But now scientists have discovered that they can reverse memory and learning problems in mice by using infusions of a protein found in human umbilical cord blood.

Parents already have the option of donating their child’s cord blood to blood banks. The stem cells are frozen for future use in treating various types of cancer and genetic disorders; but the liquid portion of the blood, the plasma, gets discarded. Neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Coray, however, thought that there had to be some redeeming value in the plasma. [1]

How Umbilical Cord Blood Could One Day Heal the Brain

As it turns out, a component of young blood might be the fountain of youth for aging brains that are losing their ability to create and retain memories. Wyss-Coray, along with his team of neurosurgeons at Stanford University Medical Center, say that cord blood rejuvenates the hippocampus in the brains of old mice. The hippocampus is a brain area that is vital for learning and memory.

However, Wyss-Coray says using actual cord blood plasma “is not something you’d ever want to develop as a treatment” because it’s “very cumbersome and difficult to collect.” But by identifying specific beneficial molecules in the plasma, Wyss-Coray hopes to be able to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s and other memory-loss diseases. The team has already identified one potentially useful protein called TIMP2. [1]

When older mice were given the umbilical cord blood treatments, they acted like younger mice in a series of behavioral tests – they escaped a maze faster than before the treatments, had better memories, and started building nests again – something the rodents typically stop doing as they grow old. [2]

Read: Cord-Blood Transplants Provide Fresh Hope for Leukemia Patients

The discovery was made when Wyss-Coray and his colleagues noticed that there were unusually high levels of TIMP2 in cord blood compared with blood from older people. When they injected TIMP2 into the older mice, they saw amazing results.

The other researchers say the results of the study, published in Nature, should be interpreted with caution. Rob Howard, professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, says that Alzheimer’s research shows that everything works in mice, but so far scientists haven’t had any luck replicating results in humans. He explains:

“Having taken that on [sic] board, this is a really interesting way to understand how we might help people who are aged or in the early stages of the disease.” [2]

But even if the protein therapy using umbilical cord blood doesn’t reverse aging or stop Alzheimer’s, scientists are hopeful that it may boost what’s left of the remaining healthy brain and perhaps offset age-associated decline.

Sources:

[1] The Atlantic

[2] The Guardian

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

NASA Reveals Vast Hole in the Sun That Could “Cripple Power Supplies”

NASA has released a graphic showing a rip in the fabric of the sun, so to speak, that is leaking solar radiation through a hole in its surface.

This is sending a bombardment of particles towards earth that could interfere with the electric grid and disrupt any technologies that are electromagnetic based.

The experts aren’t expecting a major storm this time – with only a G2 warning issued for the current onset of unusual solar activity. This will be enough only to heighten the aurora borealis effects and test the real world resilience of satellites and other sensitive equipment.

Here’s what it looks like:

But future solar eruptions – which could become more volatile if the sun is experiencing drastic changes or anomalies – could be much worse. If a G4 or G5 level solar storm or other space weather event impacts earth, there could definitely be a lights out scenario where supplies and communications reach a critical level, while desperation and unrest set in:

via Daily Mail:

An elongated coronal hole stretching across the face of the sun sent solar wind particles gushing toward Earth last week.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has revealed a stunning animation of the phenomenon, showing the massive dark patch marring the surface of our star.
[…]

These are areas in which the magnetic field has opened, allowing solar wind particles to come streaming out.

[…]

Space-weather forecasters issued a ‘G2 alert’, the second lowest classification on the geomagnetic storm scale… the resulting geomagnetic storm, while minor, could have some effects on satellites and the power grid.

[…]

‘The principal users affected by geomagnetic storms are the electrical power grid, spacecraft operations, users of radio signals that reflect off of or pass through the ionosphere, and observers of the aurora,’ the NOAA said.

Stronger storms have taken place, and those who are paying attention are anticipating a major, crippling event:

This past fall, solar winds triggered a giant geomagnetic storm, raising fears that they could cripple power supplies. Warnings were issued by the operator of the biggest power grid in the US, PJM Interconnection LLC, as well as by Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which manages high-voltage power lines across North America…

The solar storms could potentially affect telecommunications and power infrastructures all over the globe.

Military and national security infrastructure has already taken precautions. Specialized cement has been invented and commercialized to shield both new and existing buildings from the harm that would be caused by an EMP event or similar disruption via the electromagnetic spectrum.

Man has adapted rapidly, and utilized technological progress over the many frequencies of the known spectrum. But nature still holds its power over this same band of frequencies, and can unleash some powerful forces that could potentially knockdown or wipe out human-made devices. Meanwhile, governments and rogue players also hold the power to initiate an EMP attack – it remains the most realistic, widespread scenario for a major disaster outside of economic collapse or a truly catastrophic earthquake or volcano.

Individuals can prepare for this eventuality by building or utilizing a Faraday Cage (a basic metal trashcan with a lid is the simplest way to go). Whatever goes inside is shielded from EMP or electromagnetic disaster. Backup computers, electronics and communications devices need to be stored in one or multiple locations, along with all other preps.

This one could really happen. It is just a question of when, and of what magnitude.

Read more:

EMP Attack Would Destroy Civilization: “A Nightmare You’ll Never Wake Up From”

A Step-By-Step Guide To Prepare For Any Disaster

Military Readies Mountain Fortress to “Shield Against EMP Attack”

Congressman Urges Protection for Power Grid: EMP Attack “Could Bring Our Civilization to a Cold, Dark Halt”

“Super EMP” Capable of Disabling Power Grid Across Lower 48 States

EMP Threat: ‘Within One Year 9 Out of 10 Americans Would Be Dead’

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Author: Mac Slavo
Views: Read by 1,695 people
Date: January 12th, 2017
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

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