Good morning and happy October! 🌞 

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Innovation

Micronuclear Battery Breakthrough

Researchers have developed a groundbreaking nuclear battery that's 8,000 times more efficient than previous models. A team at Soochow University in China designed this battery to harness energy from radioactive decay—a process commonly associated with nuclear waste.

“Micronuclear batteries harness energy from the radioactive decay of radioisotopes to generate electricity on a small scale, typically in the nanowatt or microwatt range,” the researchers explained.

What makes this technology especially promising is that radioactive decay remains unaffected by environmental conditions like temperature, pressure, or magnetic fields. This makes the micronuclear battery a long-lasting and dependable power source in situations where traditional batteries are impractical or difficult to replace such as space or deep sea environments. This brings us closer to a future where miniature batteries can run for decades without needing a recharge.

Breakthrough in Design

While the concept of using radioactive decay for long-lasting batteries has intrigued scientists for over a century, low efficiency has always been a roadblock. This new design overcomes that issue by strategically combining materials.

The researchers used americium, a radioactive element typically regarded as nuclear waste, which emits energy in the form of alpha particles. These particles carry a lot of energy but tend to lose it quickly to their surroundings, making them hard to harness efficiently.

To solve this, the team embedded the americium in a specially designed polymer crystal that acts like a transformer. It converts the fleeting energy of alpha particles into a stable green luminescence. This glowing crystal is then paired with a photovoltaic cell—similar to a tiny solar panel, that is powered by the green glow instead of sunlight. The entire system is encased in a quartz cell, resulting in a micro-nuclear battery that, despite its small size, can provide a stable power supply for decades.

Tests showed that the battery could deliver a steady power supply for more than 200 hours, proving its remarkable longevity. It achieves this with only a small amount of radioactive material, making it a safer and more sustainable option.

While americium has a half-life of 7,380 years, the battery's lifespan will be limited to a few decades due to the gradual degradation of the materials surrounding the radioactive core. Nonetheless, this marks a significant leap forward in the development of long-lasting, miniature power sources.

World News

AI Used to Detect Ancient Aqueducts

Spanish archaeologists have used AI to locate ancient underground irrigation systems, known as qanats, in desert regions around the world.

The AI was trained to analyze Cold War-era satellite photos and detect signs of underground aqueducts that transported water from mountains to dry plains. Unlike Roman aqueducts, qanats were dug below ground, protected from the desert sun by vertical shafts for airflow and maintenance. Qanats, which date back 3,000 years, are hard to spot unless standing near their access points. Despite this, the AI correctly identified qanats in 88% of cases, analyzing images from spy satellites like HEXAGON, which surveyed the Middle East and North Africa between 1959 and 1986.

Hector Orengo from the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology led the study, highlighting how these systems allowed survival in previously uninhabitable areas. The AI will now continue to search for undiscovered qanats in these regions, offering a faster, safer alternative to human surveyors.

Good News

Fishermen Rescue Huge Whale Shark

Off the east coast of Malaysia, a group of fishermen made a surprising choice, giving up their day's catch to free a whale shark.

In a viral video from August, fishermen near Kuala Terengganu are shown pulling in their nets filled with fish. However, instead of celebrating, their shouts signal concern. A juvenile whale shark had become trapped in their net, circling as it searched for a way out. Despite risking their catch for the day, the fishermen began working to free the whale shark by pulling apart sections of the net.

In a second video, some of the fishermen can be seen inside the net, holding the shark’s head and maneuvering the rope under its chin to help it swim free.

Check out the video here!

@qasih2022

#JOGHO #TRF1379

Mind Stretchers

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Yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:

There was a slight break in the streak for yesterday’s mindstretchers— apologies for that! But here’s a new one for everyone 🌞 

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