Monthly Archives: January 2021
Mars Needs Minerals: Researchers Are Trying to Turn the Red Planet Green
It can take seven months – or more – to get to Mars. NASA can send supplies to the International Space Station if need be, but the same isn’t true of the distant planet. Instead, astronauts spending any time on Mars will have to rely on what’s known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) – using what’s around to replace objects brought from Earth. That includes food, which will eventually have to be grown there, to support any long-term residents. Instead of hauling bags of fertilizer in the spacecraft, researchers are trying to figure out how to make do with what’s on the ground, that is, Martian soil.
Thanks to NASA’s rovers and landers, scientists know about the pH and mineral makeup of the planet’s soil, which is known as regolith. Mars gets its red color from the oxidation of its rocks, regolith, and dust. Below the dust is the crust, which contains iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and more elements, according to NASA. But their presence isn’t enough to ensure plants can thrive there. The nutrients may not exist in a usable, or bioavailable, form. The levels of some may be toxic.
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Some studies have shown it’s theoretically possible to grow plants in replicated Martian soil, but there aren’t big enough samples of actual Martian regolith to be certain. Since there’s no way to do farming trials on Mars itself, scientists try to replicate conditions on Earth. Researchers at the Florida Institute of Technology recently tried to grow Arabidopsis thaliana, a weed, and Lactuca sativa, lettuce, in a trio of Martian Regolith Simulants. These simulants are mixtures of artificial and natural materials that mimic the basalt-like Martian surface. The scientists found that neither plant in the synthetic soil without the addition of supplemental nutrients.
“These findings underscore that ISRU food solutions are likely at a lower technological readiness level than previously thought,” the researchers wrote in the study, which will be published in Icarus. For example, it’s a mistake to assume the regolith is uniform over the entire planet. “Our strategy was, rather than saying this simulant grows plants so that means we can grow plants everywhere on Mars, we need to say that Mars is a diverse planet,” ocean engineering and marine sciences associate professor Andrew Palmer told Florida Tech News.
In another new study, also published in Icarus, researchers break down the preparation of five new types of Mars simulants. Laura Fackrell, a doctoral candidate at the University of Georgia in Athens, and her colleagues created the mixtures specifically formulated with characteristics of Martian regolith that might make it difficult to grow plants. TThe soil might have high salinity or a low level of organic matter. Such conditions might require future Mars residents to add other minerals and components to their gardens before planting. “Specific types of bacteria and fungi are known to be beneficial for plants and may be able to support them under stress conditions like we see on Mars,” Fackrell told TNW.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/09/22/the-martian-review"]
To test the mock Mars dirt, Fackrell tried growing several plants, including a moth bean. They hold up better with less water than other options she tried, “But they’re not necessarily super healthy,” Fackrell told Science News.It will be years before humans reach Mars, but in the meantime, research into growing plants in difficult environments could translate to Earth, where temperatures are rising. Fackrell studied microbes that live in hot springs. “Anything we learn about farming on Mars could help with farming in challenging environments on Earth that help us build to a sustainable future,” she told Florida Tech News.
For more Mars news, read about how there was once a salty lake on the red planet, and how a study revealed lakes beneath the surface of Mars.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]Mars Needs Minerals: Researchers Are Trying to Turn the Red Planet Green
It can take seven months – or more – to get to Mars. NASA can send supplies to the International Space Station if need be, but the same isn’t true of the distant planet. Instead, astronauts spending any time on Mars will have to rely on what’s known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) – using what’s around to replace objects brought from Earth. That includes food, which will eventually have to be grown there, to support any long-term residents. Instead of hauling bags of fertilizer in the spacecraft, researchers are trying to figure out how to make do with what’s on the ground, that is, Martian soil.
Thanks to NASA’s rovers and landers, scientists know about the pH and mineral makeup of the planet’s soil, which is known as regolith. Mars gets its red color from the oxidation of its rocks, regolith, and dust. Below the dust is the crust, which contains iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and more elements, according to NASA. But their presence isn’t enough to ensure plants can thrive there. The nutrients may not exist in a usable, or bioavailable, form. The levels of some may be toxic.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=cosmos-possible-worlds-gallery&captions=true"]
Some studies have shown it’s theoretically possible to grow plants in replicated Martian soil, but there aren’t big enough samples of actual Martian regolith to be certain. Since there’s no way to do farming trials on Mars itself, scientists try to replicate conditions on Earth. Researchers at the Florida Institute of Technology recently tried to grow Arabidopsis thaliana, a weed, and Lactuca sativa, lettuce, in a trio of Martian Regolith Simulants. These simulants are mixtures of artificial and natural materials that mimic the basalt-like Martian surface. The scientists found that neither plant in the synthetic soil without the addition of supplemental nutrients.
“These findings underscore that ISRU food solutions are likely at a lower technological readiness level than previously thought,” the researchers wrote in the study, which will be published in Icarus. For example, it’s a mistake to assume the regolith is uniform over the entire planet. “Our strategy was, rather than saying this simulant grows plants so that means we can grow plants everywhere on Mars, we need to say that Mars is a diverse planet,” ocean engineering and marine sciences associate professor Andrew Palmer told Florida Tech News.
In another new study, also published in Icarus, researchers break down the preparation of five new types of Mars simulants. Laura Fackrell, a doctoral candidate at the University of Georgia in Athens, and her colleagues created the mixtures specifically formulated with characteristics of Martian regolith that might make it difficult to grow plants. TThe soil might have high salinity or a low level of organic matter. Such conditions might require future Mars residents to add other minerals and components to their gardens before planting. “Specific types of bacteria and fungi are known to be beneficial for plants and may be able to support them under stress conditions like we see on Mars,” Fackrell told TNW.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2015/09/22/the-martian-review"]
To test the mock Mars dirt, Fackrell tried growing several plants, including a moth bean. They hold up better with less water than other options she tried, “But they’re not necessarily super healthy,” Fackrell told Science News.It will be years before humans reach Mars, but in the meantime, research into growing plants in difficult environments could translate to Earth, where temperatures are rising. Fackrell studied microbes that live in hot springs. “Anything we learn about farming on Mars could help with farming in challenging environments on Earth that help us build to a sustainable future,” she told Florida Tech News.
For more Mars news, read about how there was once a salty lake on the red planet, and how a study revealed lakes beneath the surface of Mars.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]WWE Announces WrestleMania Plans for 2021 and Beyond
WWE also announced that WrestleMania 38, in 2022, will take place on Sunday, April 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas - the site of 2016's WrestleMania 32.
Furthermore, WrestleMania 39, in 2023, will happen on Sunday, April 2, at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park in Inglewood, CA - which was the site originally planned for this year's WrestleMania.
No word yet on what attendance is expected to look like for this year's 'Mania, at Raymond James Stadium, which can hold 65,000 people. Will WWE run at half, or less, capacity for the sake of fans' safety or will it try and fill ip the arena? Like last year, plans could change as we get closer to the event, and WWE's Tropicana Field "ThunderDome," in Tampa Bay, where they've been filming weekly Raws and SmackDowns, could be a last-minute switch.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/26/the-undertaker-responds-to-ign-comments"]
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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.WWE Announces WrestleMania Plans for 2021 and Beyond
WWE also announced that WrestleMania 38, in 2022, will take place on Sunday, April 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas - the site of 2016's WrestleMania 32.
Furthermore, WrestleMania 39, in 2023, will happen on Sunday, April 2, at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park in Inglewood, CA - which was the site originally planned for this year's WrestleMania.
No word yet on what attendance is expected to look like for this year's 'Mania, at Raymond James Stadium, which can hold 65,000 people. Will WWE run at half, or less, capacity for the sake of fans' safety or will it try and fill ip the arena? Like last year, plans could change as we get closer to the event, and WWE's Tropicana Field "ThunderDome," in Tampa Bay, where they've been filming weekly Raws and SmackDowns, could be a last-minute switch.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/15/willys-wonderland-official-trailer"]
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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.Space Jam: A New Legacy First Look Revealed in HBO Max Teaser
Space Jam: A New Legacy is set to be released in theaters and on HBO Max on July 16, 2021, and is a sequel to the original film from 1996 and stars Lebron James. James previously revealed his Tune Squad jersey, and Xbox announced that it is asking fans to help design a new Space Jam game to launch alongside the film. Godzilla vs. Kong was going be released in theaters and on HBO Max on May 21, 2021, but WB moved up the date to March 26. While short, we did get our first look of the film at CCXP Worlds last year. While Godzilla vs. Kong is making its debut on HBO Max, there was a report that Netflix was looking to secure the film for more than $200 million, but WarnerMedia "blocked the deal while preparing an offer of its own for its streamer, HBO Max." For more, check out all the big movies (probably) coming out in 2021 as well as everything else coming to HBO Max this year and beyond. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/the-pros-and-cons-of-wbs-industry-shaking-move"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.This year, the biggest Warner Bros. premieres are coming to theaters and streaming on HBO Max the exact same day. What movie are you most excited for? https://t.co/6Ny7n8JUGk pic.twitter.com/UEMmDlMIy6
— HBO Max (@hbomax) January 16, 2021
Space Jam: A New Legacy First Look Revealed in HBO Max Teaser
Space Jam: A New Legacy is set to be released in theaters and on HBO Max on July 16, 2021, and is a sequel to the original film from 1996 and stars Lebron James. James previously revealed his Tune Squad jersey, and Xbox announced that it is asking fans to help design a new Space Jam game to launch alongside the film. Godzilla vs. Kong was going be released in theaters and on HBO Max on May 21, 2021, but WB moved up the date to March 26. While short, we did get our first look of the film at CCXP Worlds last year. While Godzilla vs. Kong is making its debut on HBO Max, there was a report that Netflix was looking to secure the film for more than $200 million, but WarnerMedia "blocked the deal while preparing an offer of its own for its streamer, HBO Max." For more, check out all the big movies (probably) coming out in 2021 as well as everything else coming to HBO Max this year and beyond. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/the-pros-and-cons-of-wbs-industry-shaking-move"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.This year, the biggest Warner Bros. premieres are coming to theaters and streaming on HBO Max the exact same day. What movie are you most excited for? https://t.co/6Ny7n8JUGk pic.twitter.com/UEMmDlMIy6
— HBO Max (@hbomax) January 16, 2021
Nintendo Switch Accounted for 87% of All Consoles Sold in Japan in 2020
Nintendo Switch Accounted for 87% of All Consoles Sold in Japan in 2020
This Lunchbox-Sized Computer Chip Can Outperform Some Supercomputers
The CS-1 computing system from Cerebras recently demonstrated the capacity to perform certain simulations 200 times more quickly than one of the fastest supercomputers in the world.
In order to show the possible uses for the CS-1, Cerebras’ researchers ran a simulation of combustion in a power plant. The complex equations for fluid dynamics take into account over a million variables, including flow velocity, pressure, and density. The likely performance for the system was 200 times faster than the Joule Supercomputer, which is one of the 100 fastest supercomputers in the world.
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"This means the CS-1 for this work is the fastest machine ever built, and it's faster than any combination of clustering of other processors," CEO Andrew Feldman told ZDNet. If you start the CS-1’s simulation at the same time as the reaction begins in the power plant’s core, the simulation will finish first. The results of the simulation, from Cerebras researcher Kamil Rocki and others from the National Energy Technology Laboratory, were published in a paper, which has not undergone peer review. Cerebras presented them at the recent SC20 supercomputing conference.
The CS-1 uses the company’s chip that takes up an entire silicon wafer. Chipmakers like Intel and Nvidia take a block of silicon and cut it into hundreds of chips, each smaller than a postage stamp. The Cerebras wafer-scale engine (WSE) is closer to the width of a piece of paper in diameter, and it’s one big chip. While a recent Nvidia supercomputer chip has 54 billion transistors, the WSE has 1.2 trillion. Transistors are the electronic switches that control electron flow, a bit like the tap on a faucet that determines the amount of water that pours out. The computers are already being used in artificial-intelligence training.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=nvidia-geforce-rtx-3070&captions=true"]
The WSE’s size and design were key in how it performed compared to the Joule supercomputer. In the same test, it was also faster than Intel’s Xeon server chip. Though Xeon cores – individual computing units – have more memory than Cerebras’, Rocki posits that the Cerebras cores are more efficient and aren’t competing for shared RAM memory the way Xeon’s are. The WSE has around 380,000 cores. The next version will have 850,000.
While the Cerebras paper speculated about some of the fluid-dynamics problems the CS-1 could help solve – like landing a helicopter on a windy day or providing equipment failure prediction – the company’s CEO wants to go further. "We need to apply this to problems beyond computational fluid dynamics," he told ZDNet.
For more on tech, read about how Nvidia RTX GPUs will remain in short supply until at least April, and check out our recent breakdown of how the RTX 3060 stacks up against the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
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Jenny McGrath is a science writer for IGN. She never tweets, but here she is @JennyMcGeez.
This Lunchbox-Sized Computer Chip Can Outperform Some Supercomputers
The CS-1 computing system from Cerebras recently demonstrated the capacity to perform certain simulations 200 times more quickly than one of the fastest supercomputers in the world.
In order to show the possible uses for the CS-1, Cerebras’ researchers ran a simulation of combustion in a power plant. The complex equations for fluid dynamics take into account over a million variables, including flow velocity, pressure, and density. The likely performance for the system was 200 times faster than the Joule Supercomputer, which is one of the 100 fastest supercomputers in the world.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-modern-pc-games-summer-2020-update&captions=true"]
"This means the CS-1 for this work is the fastest machine ever built, and it's faster than any combination of clustering of other processors," CEO Andrew Feldman told ZDNet. If you start the CS-1’s simulation at the same time as the reaction begins in the power plant’s core, the simulation will finish first. The results of the simulation, from Cerebras researcher Kamil Rocki and others from the National Energy Technology Laboratory, were published in a paper, which has not undergone peer review. Cerebras presented them at the recent SC20 supercomputing conference.
The CS-1 uses the company’s chip that takes up an entire silicon wafer. Chipmakers like Intel and Nvidia take a block of silicon and cut it into hundreds of chips, each smaller than a postage stamp. The Cerebras wafer-scale engine (WSE) is closer to the width of a piece of paper in diameter, and it’s one big chip. While a recent Nvidia supercomputer chip has 54 billion transistors, the WSE has 1.2 trillion. Transistors are the electronic switches that control electron flow, a bit like the tap on a faucet that determines the amount of water that pours out. The computers are already being used in artificial-intelligence training.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=nvidia-geforce-rtx-3070&captions=true"]
The WSE’s size and design were key in how it performed compared to the Joule supercomputer. In the same test, it was also faster than Intel’s Xeon server chip. Though Xeon cores – individual computing units – have more memory than Cerebras’, Rocki posits that the Cerebras cores are more efficient and aren’t competing for shared RAM memory the way Xeon’s are. The WSE has around 380,000 cores. The next version will have 850,000.
While the Cerebras paper speculated about some of the fluid-dynamics problems the CS-1 could help solve – like landing a helicopter on a windy day or providing equipment failure prediction – the company’s CEO wants to go further. "We need to apply this to problems beyond computational fluid dynamics," he told ZDNet.
For more on tech, read about how Nvidia RTX GPUs will remain in short supply until at least April, and check out our recent breakdown of how the RTX 3060 stacks up against the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
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Jenny McGrath is a science writer for IGN. She never tweets, but here she is @JennyMcGeez.