Best of last week — zero-gravity technology, a holodeck recreation, and why the moon is tilted

April 15, 2024 • Written by Bob Ilka

It’s been a good week for physics research, as a team at Okinawa University of Science and Technology’s Quantum Mechanics Unit has developed a new material that could unlock weightless technology. Their device is a floating platform in a vacuum that uses magnets and graphite. The team of physicists working on the BESIII collaboration also announced that J/ψ→γ3(π⁺π^–) decay, representing evidence of new elementary particles. Now, a team from the University of California, Riverside has solved a puzzle about ancient galaxies discovered with the Webb Telescope. Galaxy JWST-ER1g acts as a lens, bending light from distant sources, resulting in the observed ring.

In technology news, a team of engineers at the University of Florida has demonstrated a new 3D printing method that makes printed materials more affordable and environmentally friendly. A team at the University of Pennsylvania also recreated the Star Trek holodeck using ChatGPT and video game assets (called the holodeck). This system generates an interactive virtual 3D environment. A team of solar energy engineers at Lehigh University has developed a new quantum material that promises up to 190% quantum efficiency in solar cells. A team at Osaka Metropolitan University has now developed a process that brings all-solid-state sodium batteries closer to practical use.

In other news, a team of medical researchers at the Center for Food Safety in the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has found evidence that drinking certain types of tea may help your immune system fight COVID-19. It is said that he did. It was found to inactivate up to 99.9% of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in saliva. A team of researchers from the University of Arizona also solved a long-standing mystery surrounding the lopsided nature of the Moon’s geology. After the moon literally turned inside out, ilmenite material migrated to the moon’s near side and sank into the moon’s interior in a waterfall of sheets, leaving behind debris that caused anomalies in the moon’s gravitational field.