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Writer Fuel: Could GPS Help Us Predict Earthquakes?

road crumbled by an earthquake - deposit photos

Currently, it is impossible to accurately predict when and where an earthquake might strike. But scientists now believe that Global Positioning System (GPS) data could help spot early warning signs two hours before a big quake strikes. Earthquakes occur when the slabs of slow-moving rocks just under Earth’s surface — known as tectonic plates — … Read more

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Writer Fuel: We Could Have a Tractor Beam In Ten Years

tractor beam - deposit photos

In science fiction films, nothing raises tension quite like the good guys’ spaceship getting caught in an invisible tractor beam that allows the baddies to slowly reel them in. But what was once only a sci-fi staple could soon become a reality. Scientists are developing a real-life tractor beam, dubbed an electrostatic tractor. This tractor … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Will Quantum Computers Surpass “Classical” Ones Soon?

quantum computer

Quantum computers could beat classical ones at answering practical questions within two years, a new experiment from IBM computers shows. The demonstration hints that true quantum supremacy, in which quantum computers overtake classical digital ones, could be here surprisingly soon. “These machines are coming,” Sabrina Maniscalco, CEO of Helsinki-based quantum-computing startup Algorithmiq, told Nature News. … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Will Cell Phone Towers Lead Aliens to Us?

alien ship - deposit photos

If intelligent aliens are searching for other advanced lifeforms in the galaxy, our cell phone towers could be the beacons that give Earthlings away. New research suggests that advanced aliens in nearby star systems could probably already detect radio signals from cell phone towers. And as these signals become more powerful, humanity’s calling card will … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Lasers Reveal Remains of Mighty Mayan Nation in Guatemalan Jungle

complex of Maya pyramids in Guatemala as seen via lidar

Geologists in northern Guatemala have discovered a massive Maya site that stretches approximately 650 square miles (1,700 square kilometers) and dates to the Middle and Late Preclassic period (roughly 1000 B.C. to 250 B.C.). The findings were the result of an aerial survey that researchers conducted via airplane using lidar (light detection and ranging), in … Read more

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Writer Fuel: The Hover Bike We’ve Always Wanted

hover bike

As a boy, Shuhei Komatsu loved Star Wars movies, especially the lightning-fast land speeders. So when he grew up, he decided to make one of his own, he said. “I wanted to make something from the movie real,” Komatsu said. “It’s a land speeder for the Dark Side.” On Wednesday, he and his AERWINS Technologies … Read more

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WRITER FUEL: How Do Rockets In Space Work Without Air?

Giant Spaceship - Deposit Photos

In space, rockets zoom around with no air to push against. What’s their secret? Turns out, the engines that power rockets are different than the kind of engines that power aircraft or other Earth-based equipment. Rocket engines carry everything they require into space, rather than relying on air. Like Earthly engines, rocket engines operate using … Read more

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Happy Fourth: Seven “Star Wars” Tech Projects Scientists Are Working On Now

may the 4th be with you - star wars

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, technology was way cooler than it is in our reality: Commercial spaceships bending space-time to cross galaxies in seconds; autonomous androids capable of translating any language on the fly, or leaving a battlefield in ruin; deadly swords of plasma that fit comfortably under your bathrobe. … Read more

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WRITER FUEL: The World’s First Computer Was Created in… 178 BC?

Antikythera Mechanism - Deposit Photos

The mysterious Antikythera mechanism, thought by some to be the world’s first computer, was first “started up” on Dec. 22, 178 B.C., archaeologists have now found. Discovered by sponge divers in a Roman-era shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, the elaborate ancient computer, which looks like a shoebox-size contraption with gears and … Read more

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WRITER FUEL: Reaching People With “Locked In Syndrome”

brain energy - pixabay

For the first time, a patient in a completely locked-in state due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was able to communicate verbally using a brain-computer interface, according to a new study. This technology allowed the patient, a 37-year old man with ALS, to communicate by forming words and phrases, despite not having any voluntary muscle … Read more