Veteran Inventor Announces New Air Purification System That Splits CO₂, Produces Oxygen, and May Support Health and Ozone Recovery
Gal Joe Nahum Photo
Advertisement
The CDC filtration system works by passing direct current through the air, targeting CO₂ molecules. As the air flows through the unit, the current splits the carbon from the oxygen atoms. Carbon is internally collected, and purified oxygen is released, contributing to cleaner indoor and outdoor environments.
A unique feature of this system is its generation of negative ions (–ions). These ions are naturally found in environments like waterfalls, where the friction of water hitting air produces a charge. 'Negative ions bind to positively charged particles, such as dust and pollutants, pulling them to the ground and purifying the air,' said Gal Joe. Nahum. 'If they reach the upper atmosphere, they may convert into ozone. Given the ozone depletion over Antarctica, restoring this layer is a priority for global health.'
Beyond air purification, Gal Joe Nahum suggests the CDC technology may also have future use in health and wellness. 'There is a theory that this technology could assist the body in absorbing essential nutrients like vitamin D and calcium, potentially benefiting bones, nails, and teeth,' he noted. While this aspect remains under exploration, the concept reflects Nahum's commitment to broader applications for public benefit.
The system is also being paired with a renewable energy source. Nahum is developing a transformer that harvests atmospheric energy, such as lightning and thunder, and converts it into direct current, allowing the filtration system to operate sustainably off-grid.
Gal Joe Nahum, who served during the Desert Storm conflict, has dedicated over a decade of his life to the development of this technology. However, his efforts have not always been met with support. 'I came to NASA with this technology in good faith, hoping to collaborate,' he said. 'But I was dismissed simply because I wasn't part of the system. They forgot that some of the greatest innovators, like the Wright brothers, didn't have formal credentials. Without them, NASA wouldn't even exist.'
His work is also chronicled in his book, which explores his scientific innovations and space-related concepts. Learn more at www.newspacetechnologybook.com .
Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
‘It's an Easy Call,' Says Top Investor About Palantir Stock
Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) stock, like any investment, requires weighing the potential rewards against the risks. While the company continues to perform exceptionally well, the primary – and arguably only – factor giving investors pause is its elevated share price. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. That concern hasn't slowed the stock's momentum. Palantir shares have surged by over 500% in the past 12 months, and late last week, the company reached yet another record high. Its valuation multiples now tower over sector medians by thousands of percentage points, raising questions about whether the fundamentals can keep pace with investor enthusiasm. Next week's Q2 earnings report, scheduled for August 4th, could provide a timely reality check. It offers a critical opportunity for the company to justify its lofty valuation – or fall short of the market's high expectations. Top investor Rick Orford, who's ranked among the top 1% of stock pickers on TipRanks, is leaning toward the former scenario. He anticipates another upswing in PLTR shares following the earnings release, making it an easy call given the current trajectory. 'Should Palantir hit its Q2'25 targets – and with how the wind is blowing, that could happen – I think Palantir shareholders will be pleased. His optimism is rooted in both historical performance and Palantir's current momentum. Historically, the stock has swung an average of 17.5% following earnings – a double-edged sword, but one that Orford believes will cut favorably this time. Central to that belief is the company's AI Platform (AIP), which helped drive a 39% year-over-year revenue increase last quarter. That growth has been especially notable in Palantir's U.S. commercial segment, where AIP adoption led to a 71% revenue spike in Q1. According to Orford, this surge reflects a broader trend: companies across the country are scrambling to implement AI but often lack the in-house expertise. Palantir's AIP provides them with a ready-made solution. 'American enterprises are most likely desperate to implement AI solutions, but not all of them have the technical expertise to do so. With AIP, these enterprises get what they need to implement custom AI into their operations,' the investor explains. Orford also sees Palantir's government work as a key stabilizing force. Its deep ties to the U.S. defense sector – with multi-year, high-margin contracts – offer a steady revenue stream that cushions any slowdown in the private market. 'Palantir checks all the boxes of an exciting, growing company that's at the intersection of two major trends: enterprise AI adoption and national defense modernization,' the investor sums up. 'Analysts say Hold, but history says otherwise.' Unsurprisingly, Orford gives PLTR shares a Strong Buy rating. (To watch Orford's track record, click here) The analyst consensus on PLTR is indeed a Hold, based on 10 Hold ratings, 4 Buys, and 3 Sells. The average 12-month price target stands at $109.50, implying a 31% downside from current levels. (See PLTR stock forecast) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks' Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks' equity insights.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The asteroid that will spare Earth might hit the moon instead. What happens if it does?
The asteroid known as 2024 YR4 is out of sight yet still very much on scientists' minds. The building-sized object, which initially appeared to be on a potential collision course with Earth, is currently zooming beyond the reach of telescopes on its orbit around the sun. But as scientists wait for it to reappear, its revised trajectory is now drawing attention to another possible target: the moon. Discovered at the end of 2024, the space rock looked at first as if it might hit our planet by December 22, 2032. The chance of that impact changed with every new observation, peaking at 3.1% in February — odds that made it the riskiest asteroid ever observed. Ground- and space-based telescope observations were crucial in helping astronomers narrow in on 2024 YR4's size and orbit. With more precise measurements, researchers were ultimately able to rule out an Earth impact. The latest observations of the asteroid in early June, before YR4 disappeared from view, have improved astronomers' knowledge of where it will be in seven years by almost 20%, according to NASA. That data shows that even with Earth avoiding direct impact, YR4 could still pose a threat in late 2032 by slamming into the moon. The impact would be a once-in-a-lifetime event for humanity to witness — but it could also send fine-grained lunar material hurtling toward our planet. While Earth wouldn't face any significant physical danger should the asteroid strike the moon, there is a chance that any astronauts or infrastructure on the lunar surface at that time could be at risk — as could satellites orbiting our planet that we depend on to keep vital aspects of life, including navigation and communications, running smoothly. Any missions in low-Earth orbit could also be in the pathway of the debris, though the International Space Station is scheduled to be deorbited before any potential impact. Initially, YR4 was seen as a case study in why scientists do the crucial work of planetary defense, discovering and tracking asteroids to determine which ones have a chance of colliding with Earth. Now, astronomers say this one asteroid could redefine the range of risks the field addresses, expanding the purview of the work to include monitoring asteroids that might be headed for the moon as well. 'We're starting to realize that maybe we need to extend that shield a little bit further,' said Dr. Paul Wiegert, a professor of astronomy and physics at the Western University in London, Ontario. 'We now have things worth protecting that are a bit further away from Earth, so our vision is hopefully expanding a little bit to encompass that.' In the meantime, researchers are assessing just how much chaos a potential YR4 lunar impact could create — and whether anything can be done to mitigate it. 'City killer' on the moon The threatening hunk of rock appears as just a speck of light through even the strongest astronomical tools. In reality, YR4 is likely about 60 meters (about 200 feet) in diameter, according to observations in March by the James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space-based observatory in operation. 'Size equals energy,' said Julien de Wit, associate professor of planetary sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who observed YR4 with Webb. 'Knowing YR4's size helped us understand how big of an explosion it could be.' Astronomers believe they have found most of the near-Earth asteroids the field would classify as 'planet killers' — space rocks that are 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) across or larger and could be civilization-ending, said Dr. Andy Rivkin, planetary astronomer from the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. The planet killer that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago and led to the extinction of dinosaurs was estimated to be roughly 6 miles (about 10 kilometers) in diameter. Smaller asteroids such as YR4, which was colloquially dubbed a 'city killer' after its discovery, could cause regional devastation if they collide with our planet. About 40% of near-Earth space rocks larger than 140 meters (460 feet) but smaller than a kilometer — capable of more widespread destruction — have been identified, according to NASA. But astronomers have never really had a chance to watch a collision of that size occur on the moon in real time, Wiegert said. The latest glimpses of YR4 on June 3 before it passed out of view revealed a 4.3% chance of a YR4 lunar impact — small but decent enough odds for scientists to consider how such a scenario might play out. A striking meteor shower — and a risk Initial calculations suggest the impact has the largest chance of occurring on the near side of the moon — the side we can see from Earth. 'YR4 is so faint and small we were able to measure its position with JWST longer than we were able to do it from the ground,' said Rivkin, who has been leading the Webb study of YR4. 'And that lets us calculate a much more precise orbit for it, so we now have a much better idea of where it will be and won't be.' The collision could create a bright flash that would be visible with the naked eye for several seconds, according to Wiegert, lead author of a recent paper submitted to the American Astronomical Society journals analyzing the potential lunar impact. The collision could create an impact crater on the moon estimated at 1 kilometer wide (0.6 miles wide), Wiegert said — about the size of Meteor Crater in Arizona, Rivkin added. It would be the largest impact on the moon in 5,000 years and could release up to 100 million kilograms (220 million pounds) of lunar rocks and dust, according to the modeling in Wiegert's study. Even pieces of debris that are just tens of centimeters in size could present a hazard for any astronauts who may be present on the moon, or any structures they have built for research and habitation, Wiegert said. The moon has no atmosphere, so the debris from the event could be widespread on the lunar surface, he added. On average, the moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) away from Earth, according to NASA. Particles the size of large sand grains, ranging from 0.1 to 10 millimeters in size, of lunar material could reach Earth between a few days and a few months after the asteroid strike because they'll be traveling incredibly fast, creating an intense, eye-catching meteor shower, Wiegert said. 'There's absolutely no danger to anyone on the surface,' Wiegert said. 'We're not expecting large boulders or anything larger than maybe a sugar cube, and our atmosphere will protect us very nicely from that. But they're traveling faster than a speeding bullet, so if they were to hit a satellite, that could cause some damage.' Not all lunar debris that reaches the Earth is so small, and it depends on the angle and type of impact to the moon, according to Washington University in St. Louis. Space rocks slamming into the lunar surface over millions of years have resulted in various sizes of lunar meteorites found on Earth. Preparing for impact Hundreds to thousands of impacts from millimeter-size debris could affect Earth's satellite fleet, meaning satellites could experience up to 10 years' equivalent of meteor debris exposure in a few days, Wiegert said. Humankind depends on vital space infrastructure, said Dan Oltrogge, chief scientist at COMSPOC, a space situational awareness software company that develops solutions for handling hazards such as space debris. 'Space touches almost every aspect of our lives today, ranging from commerce, communications, travel, industry, education, and social media, so a loss of access to and effective use of space presents a serious risk to humanity,' Oltrogge said. The event is unlikely to trigger a Kessler Syndrome scenario in which debris from broken satellites would collide with others to create a domino effect or fall to Earth. Instead, it might be more akin to when a piece of gravel strikes a car windshield at high speed, meaning solar panels or other delicate satellite parts might be damaged, but the satellite will remain in one piece, Wiegert said. While a temporary loss of communication and navigation from satellites would create widespread difficulties on Earth, Wiegert said he believes the potential impact is something for satellite operators, rather than the public, to worry about. Protecting Earth and the moon Scientists and astronomers around the world are thinking about the possible scenarios since they could not rule out a lunar impact before YR4 disappeared from view, Wiegert said. 'We realize that an impact to the moon could be consequential, so what would we do?' de Wit said. A potential planetary defense plan might be clearer if the asteroid were headed straight for Earth. Rivkin helped test one approach in September 2022 as the principal investigator of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, which intentionally slammed a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022. Dimorphos is a moonlet asteroid that orbits a larger parent asteroid known as Didymos. Neither poses a threat to Earth, but the double-asteroid system was a perfect target to test deflection technology because Dimorphos' size is comparable to asteroids that could harm our planet in the event of an impact. The DART mission crashed a spacecraft into the asteroid at 13,645 miles per hour (6 kilometers per second) to find out whether such a kinetic impact would be enough to change the motion of a celestial object in space. It worked. Since the day of the collision, data from ground-based telescopes has revealed that the DART spacecraft did alter Dimorphos' orbital period — or how long it takes to make a single revolution around Didymos — by about 32 or 33 minutes. And scientists have continued to observe additional changes to the pair, including how the direct hit likely deformed Dimorphos due to the asteroid's composition. Similarly, if YR4 strikes the moon and doesn't result in damaging effects for satellites, it could create a tremendous opportunity for researchers to learn how the lunar surface responds to impacts, Wiegert said. But whether it would make sense to send a DART-like mission to knock YR4 off a collision course with the moon remains to be seen. It will depend on future risk assessments by planetary defense groups when the asteroid comes back into view around 2028, de Wit said. Though defense plans for a potential moon impact still aren't clear, YR4's journey underscores the importance — and the challenges — of tracking objects that are often impossible to see. Hidden threats YR4 was detected by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS telescope, in Río Hurtado, Chile, two days after the asteroid had already made its closest pass by Earth, hidden by the bright glare of the sun as it approached our planet. The same thing occurred when an asteroid measuring roughly 20 meters (about 65 feet) across hit the atmosphere and exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013, damaging thousands of buildings, according to the European Space Agency. While no one died, about 1,500 people were injured when the windows in homes and businesses blew out due to the shock wave. Trying to observe asteroids is challenging for many reasons, Rivkin said. Asteroids are incredibly faint and hard to see because rather than emitting their own light, they only reflect sunlight. And because of their relatively tiny size, interpreting observations is not a clear-cut process like looking through a telescope at a planet such as Mars or Jupiter. 'For asteroids, we only see them as a point of light, and so by measuring how bright they are and measuring their temperature, basically we can get a size based on how big do they have to be in order to be this bright,' Rivkin said. For decades, astronomers have had to search for faint asteroids by night, which means missing any that may be on a path coming from the direction of the sun — creating the world's biggest blind spot for ground-based telescopes that can't block out our star's luminosity. But upcoming telescopes — including NASA's NEO Surveyor expected to launch by the end of 2027 and the European Space Agency's Near-Earth Object Mission in the InfraRed, or NEOMIR satellite, set for liftoff in the early 2030s — could shrink that blind spot, helping researchers detect asteroids much closer to the sun. 'NEOMIR would have detected asteroid 2024 YR4 about a month earlier than ground-based telescopes did,' said Richard Moissl, head of ESA's Planetary Defence Office, in a statement. 'This would have given astronomers more time to study the asteroid's trajectory and allowed them to much sooner rule out any chance of Earth impact in 2032.' NASA and other space agencies are constantly on the lookout for potentially hazardous asteroids, defined as such based on their distance from Earth and ability to cause significant damage should an impact occur. Asteroids that can't get any closer to our planet than one-twentieth of Earth's distance from the sun are not considered to be potentially hazardous asteroids, according to NASA. When the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located in the Andes in Chile, released its first stunning images of the cosmos in June, researchers revealed the discovery of more than 2,100 previously unknown asteroids after seven nights of those newly detected space rocks, seven were near-Earth objects. A near-Earth object is an asteroid or comet on an orbit that brings it within 120 million miles (about 190 million kilometers) of the sun, which means it has the potential to pass near Earth, according to NASA. None of the new ones detected by Rubin were determined to pose a threat to our planet. Rubin will act as a great asteroid hunter, de Wit said, while telescopes such as Webb could be a tracker that follow up on Rubin's discoveries. A proposal by Rivkin and de Wit to use Webb to observe YR4 in the spring of 2026 has just been approved. Webb is the only telescope with a chance of glimpsing the asteroid before 2028. 'This newly approved program will buy decision makers two extra years to prepare — though most likely to relax, as there is an 80% chance of ruling out impact — while providing key experience-based lessons for handling future potential impactors to be discovered by Vera Rubin,' de Wit said. And because of the twists and turns of YR4's tale thus far, asteroids that have potential to affect the moon could become objects of even more intense study in the future. 'If this really is a thing that we only have to worry about every 5,000 years or something, then maybe that's less pressing,' Rivkin said. 'But even just asking what would we do if we did see something that was going to hit the moon is at least something that we can now start thinking about.' Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
'Quishing' scams dupe millions of Americans as cybercriminals exploit QR codes
QR codes were once a quirky novelty that prompted a fun scan with the phone. Early on, you might have seen a QR code on a museum exhibit and scanned it to learn more about the eating habits of the woolly mammoth or military strategies of Genghis Khan. During the pandemic, QR codes became the default restaurant menu. However, as QR codes became a mainstay in more urgent aspects of American life, from boarding passes to parking payments, hackers have exploited their ubiquity. 'As with many technological advances that start with good intentions, QR codes have increasingly become targets for malicious use. Because they are everywhere — from gas pumps and yard signs to television commercials — they're simultaneously useful and dangerous,' said Dustin Brewer, senior director of proactive cybersecurity services at BlueVoyant. Brewer says that attackers exploit these seemingly harmless symbols to trick people into visiting malicious websites or unknowingly share private information, a scam that has become known as 'quishing.' The increasing prevalence of QR code scams prompted a warning from the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year about unwanted or unexpected packages showing up with a QR code that when scanned 'could take you to a phishing website that steals your personal information, like credit card numbers or usernames and passwords. It could also download malware onto your phone and give hackers access to your device.' State and local advisories this summer have reached across the U.S., with the New York Department of Transportation and Hawaii Electric warning customers about avoiding QR code scams. The appeal to cybercriminals lies in the relative ease with which the scam operates: slap a fake QR code sticker on a parking meter or a utility bill payment warning and rely on urgency to do the rest. 'The crooks are relying on you being in a hurry and you needing to do something,' said Gaurav Sharma, a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Rochester. On the rise as traditional phishing fails Sharma expects QR scams to increase as the use of QR codes spreads. Another reason QR codes have increased in popularity with scammers is that more safeguards have been put into place to tamp down on traditional email phishing campaigns. A study this year from cybersecurity platform KeepNet Labs found that 26 percent of all malicious links are now sent via QR code. According to cybersecurity company, NordVPN, 73% of Americans scan QR codes without verification, and more than 26 million have already been directed to malicious sites. 'The cat and mouse game of security will continue and that people will figure out solutions and the crooks will either figure out a way around or look at other places where the grass is greener,' Sharma said. Sharma is working to develop a 'smart' QR code called a SDMQR (Self-Authenticating Dual-Modulated QR) that has built-in security to prevent scams. But first, he needs buy-in from Google and Microsoft, the companies that build the cameras and control the camera infrastructure. Companies putting their logos into QR codes isn't a fix because it can cause a false sense of security, and that criminals can usually simply copy the logos, he said. Some Americans are wary of the increasing reliance on QR codes. 'I'm in my 60s and don't like using QR codes,' said Denise Joyal of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 'I definitely worry about security issues. I really don't like it when one is forced to use a QR code to participate in a promotion with no other way to connect. I don't use them for entertainment-type information.' Institutions are also trying to fortify their QR codes against intrusion. Natalie Piggush, spokeswoman for the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, which welcomes over one million visitors a year, said their IT staff began upgrading their QR codes a couple of years ago to protect against what has become an increasingly significant threat. 'At the museum, we use stylized QR codes with our logo and colors as opposed to the standard monochrome codes. We also detail what users can expect to see when scanning one of our QR codes, and we regularly inspect our existing QR codes for tampering or for out-of-place codes,' Piggush said. Museums are usually less vulnerable than places like train stations or parking lots because scammers are looking to collect cash from people expecting to pay for something. A patron at a museum is less likely to expect to pay, although Sharma said even in those settings, fake QR codes can be deployed to install malware on someone's phone. Apple, Android user trust is an issue QR code scams are likely to hit both Apple and Android devices, but iPhone users may be slightly more likely to fall victim to the crime, according to a study completed earlier this year by Malwarebytes. Users of iPhones expressed more trust in their devices than Android owners and that, researchers say, could cause them to let down their guard. For example, 70% of iPhone users have scanned a QR code to begin or complete a purchase versus 63% of Android users who have done the same. Malwarebytes researcher David Ruiz wrote that trust could have an adverse effect, in that iPhone users do not feel the need to change their behavior when making online purchases, and they have less interest in (or may simply not know about) using additional cybersecurity measures, like antivirus. Fifty-five percent of iPhone users trust their device to keep them safe, versus 50 percent of Android users expressing the same sentiment. Low investment, high return hacking tactic A QR code is more dangerous than a traditional phishing email because users typically can't read or verify the encoded web address. Even though QR codes normally include human-readable text, attackers can modify this text to deceive users into trusting the link and the website it directs to. The best defense against them is to not scan unwanted or unexpected QR codes and look for ones that display the URL address when you scan it. Brewer says cybercriminals have also been leveraging QR codes to infiltrate critical networks. 'There are also credible reports that nation-state intelligence agencies have used QR codes to compromise messaging accounts of military personnel, sometimes using software like Signal that is also open to consumers,' Brewer said. Nation-state attackers have even used QR codes to distribute remote access trojans (RATs) — a type of malware designed to operate without a device owner's consent or knowledge — enabling hackers to gain full access to targeted devices and networks. Still, one of the most dangerous aspects of QR codes is how they are part of the fabric of everyday life, a cyberthreat hiding in plain sight. 'What's especially concerning is that legitimate flyers, posters, billboards, or official documents can be easily compromised. Attackers can simply print their own QR code and paste it physically or digitally over a genuine one, making it nearly impossible for the average user to detect the deception,' Brewer said. Rob Lee, chief of research, AI, and emerging threats at the cybersecurity training focused SANS Institute, says that QR code compromise is just another tactic in a long line of similar strategies in the cybercriminal playbook. 'QR codes weren't built with security in mind, they were built to make life easier, which also makes them perfect for scammers,' Lee said. 'We've seen this playbook before with phishing emails; now it just comes with a smiley pixelated square. It's not panic-worthy yet, but it's exactly the kind of low-effort, high-return tactic attackers love to scale.'
