
Here's Another Use for Ice: Creating Secret Codes
'I could see it showing up in a James Bond movie,' said Robin E. Bell, an expert in ice sheet dynamics at Columbia and a former president of the American Geophysical Union. Dr. Bell, who was not involved in the new study, pictured a scene in which secret plans involving a submarine are encoded in an ice cube and are in danger of being discovered. 'So you turn it into a smoothie or something,' she said.
But the idea is more than an exercise in frivolity, said Mengjie Song, an expert in thermodynamics at the Beijing Institute of Technology and one of the lead authors of the new study, published on June 18 in the scientific journal Cell Reports Physical Science.
'It is a totally new method for humans to record information,' Dr. Song said. In his view, there could be 'many, many applications around this work.' For instance, it could be used to help devise more accurate models for de-icing power lines, airplanes and high-speed trains. A clearer grasp of how ice bubbles form could also help scientists better understand the thermal and mechanical properties of bricks made from lunar soil, which could be used to build moon bases. (Scientists have been researching the possibility of fashioning bricks from Martian soil for almost a decade.) Trained to recognize patterns in ice bubbles, artificial intelligence could help study glaciers for clues about past climate patterns, or to identify potential deposits of natural gas.
Researchers acknowledged, however, that much more work would have to be done to make such applications feasible. 'Ice is an ancient substance that permeates every aspect of our lives,' Dr. Song said. 'There are many unsolved mysteries waiting for us to explore.'
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Associated Press
7 hours ago
- Associated Press
Chun Wo Innovation Student Awards 2024 Successfully Concluded Four Outstanding Projects Showcase the Future of Engineering Innovation
HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 29 July 2025 - Organised by Chun Wo Development Holdings Limited ('Chun Wo'), the Chun Wo Innovation Student Awards 2024 ('CWISA') concluded successfully with an award presentation ceremony celebrating a new generation of engineering talent and their innovative solutions. Themed 'Engineers: Overcoming World's Challenges', this year's competition attracted over 40 teams from 18 higher education institutions and universities across Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. By using cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Augmented/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) to develop engineering solutions for 'Climate Action', 'Sustainable Cities and Communities', and 'Innovative Architecture and Infrastructure'. The award ceremony was attended by government officials, industry leaders, and academic representatives. A total of HKD 200,000 in cash prize was presented across the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Merit Awards. Chun Wo will assist winning teams to execute their innovative ideas by providing appropriate resources or investments. Sr Stephen LEE, Chairman of Chun Wo Construction Holdings Company Limited remarks, 'It is inspiring to witness the rise of future talents in engineering and innovation from Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. By leveraging innovation and technology to address challenges like infrastructure and climate change, the students have shown immense potential. We hope the award-winning students will continue to explore new possibilities and work together to create a better future for society.' Ir Michael FONG, JP, Director of the Civil Engineering and Development remarks, 'Having served as a judge for two consecutive years, I am deeply impressed by the level of innovation showcased in this year's entries — it not only demonstrates the students' growing ambition in their creations but also reflects the younger generation's spirit of breaking conventions and pioneering new possibilities.' The Gold Award of CWISA 2024 was presented to a team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for their project 'Renewable Material Coagulant', which uses industrial by-products to develop a low-carbon solidifying agent as a replacement for traditional cement in ground stabilisation. The project achieves more than 80% carbon emission reduction and offers a revolutionary alternative for green construction and land rehabilitation. The Silver Award went to a cross-institutional team from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Their project 'RiceFort' upcycles discarded rice husks into eco-friendly fibreboards for use in furniture and construction. The project demonstrates high performance, low cost, and recyclability, and also won the Best Social Impact Award for its green entrepreneurship potential and community value. The Bronze Award was awarded to a team from City University of Hong Kong for their project 'AI-Driven Self-cleaning Air-to-Hydrogen System', which combines air-to-water extraction, solar photocatalysis, and AI-powered self-cleaning to produce hydrogen with zero carbon emissions and no external water consumption. The solution is especially suitable for arid and remote areas, and also won the Best Sustainable Solution Award. In addition, a joint team from The University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University won the Best Business Potential Award for their project 'Generation Alpha Building Emergency System', which features an AIoT-powered fire detection system with high accuracy and low false alarm rates, offering an advanced fire safety solution for older buildings and high-density urban environments. Chun Wo aims to continuously inspire the creativity and sense of social responsibility among young engineers through the CWISA platform. The company will continue working with academia, industry, and government partners to promote the implementation of innovative technologies and nurture more engineering talent with global vision and a commitment to sustainability, contributing to a smarter and greener future. Download High-Resolution Photos HERE Photo Captions: Hashtag: #ChunWoDevelopment The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About Chun Wo Innovation Student Awards The Chun Wo Innovation Student Awards ('CWISA') is a biennial competition established in 2018 by Chun Wo Development Holdings Limited. It aims to inspire young innovators to develop creative engineering solutions that strengthen urban connectivity and promote sustainable city development. Since its inception, CWISA has attracted over 650 students from more than 20 tertiary institutions and universities across Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. The fourth CWISA is themed 'Engineers Overcoming the World's Challenges,' motivates students to propose innovative engineering solutions in response to climate action, sustainable cities and communities, and innovative architecture and infrastructure. By leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR), students are encouraged to help shape a better future for society and the environment. The Awards recognise outstanding ideas with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Merit Awards. The Gold Award winner will receive a cash prize of HK$100,000, with a total cash prize of approximately HK$200,000 for all winners. For more information, please visit: About Chun Wo Development Holdings Limited Chun Wo Development Holdings Limited ('Chun Wo') was founded in 1968 and is a key subsidiary of Asia Allied Infrastructure Holdings Limited (stock code: The Company is principally engaged in the core construction and property development businesses with the professional capability to undertake large integrated construction projects. Recent examples of large infrastructure projects which the Company has undertaken works include the Tseung Kwan O – Lam Tin Tunnel Tseung Kwan O Interchange, the Central-Wan Chai Bypass, the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Infrastructure, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Passenger Clearance Building, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (Hong Kong Section), the MTR Shatin to Central Link and the Redevelopment of Kwong Wah Hospital (Phase 2) etc. About Asia Allied Infrastructure Holdings Limited (Stock Code: Asia Allied Infrastructure Holdings Limited ('Asia Allied Infrastructure', 'the Group') is listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock code 00711. The Group operates businesses such as construction engineering and management, property development and assets leasing, security and facility management, tunnel management, non-franchised bus services, as well as medical technology and healthcare. 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Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Find Secret Code in Human DNA
One person's junk is another's treasure. An international team of scientists have found that strings of "junk" DNA in the human genome that were previously written off as having no useful function are actually pretty important after all. The work, published as a study in the journal Science Advances, focuses on transposable elements, a class of DNA sequences that can "jump," via a biological copy-and-paste mechanism, to different locations in a genome. These "jumping genes" take up nearly 50 percent of human DNA; in other organisms, the proportion is even higher. What the researchers from Japan, China, Canada, and the US found is that a particular family of these TEs, called MER11, can strongly influence gene expression and act like "genetic switches" — without actually changing the underlying DNA. "Our genome was sequenced long ago, but the function of many of its parts remain unknown," study coauthor Fumitaka Inoue from Kyoto University said in a statement about the work. MER11 sequences are what's known as long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons. Spookily, these are believed to have originated from an endogenous retrovirus (ERV) that infected a simian ancestor tens of millions of years ago, hijacking the DNA of the cells it invaded to produce copies of its genetic makeup that have never gone away, but have largely remained inert. Per the researchers, at least eight percent of the human genome comes from these retroviruses. That, plus all the other TEs littering our genome, makes for a lot of puzzling clutter for human scientists to sift through. The authors argue that the current methods for classifying and annotating TEs are inaccurate, leading to DNA sequences being overlooked as genetic junk. This inspired them to test their own classification system. "The proper classification and annotation of LTR instances is critical to understanding their evolution, co-option and potential impact on the host," the authors wrote in the study. The researchers' system classified MER11 sequences based on their evolutionary relationships and how well they were preserved in primate genomes, according to the researchers' statement. Then, they divided MER11 into four separate subfamilies, MER11_G1 through G4, based on their age. This allowed the team to compare the MER11 subfamilies to what are known as epigenetic marks: chemicals that can affect how important proteins function, and as a consequence affect gene activity. Crucially, epigenetic marks don't have to physically alter a cell's DNA to modify a cell's behavior, such as silencing a gene that should be expressed. Accurately tying the MER11 subfamilies to the markers is a key step to revealing the extent of their impact on gene expression. With that as a springboard, the team tested some 7,000 MER11 sequences from humans and primates, measured how much each one affected gene activity, and found that the youngest MER11 subfamily, G4, had a strong ability to influence gene expression — namely, by bearing its own DNA "motifs" that attract proteins called transcription factors that regulate what genes are switched on and off. "Young MER11_G4 binds to a distinct set of transcription factors, indicating that this group gained different regulatory functions through sequence changes and contributes to speciation," lead author Xun Chen from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in the statement. The implications are fascinating. Though these strands of DNA may have started as "junk," they have gradually insinuated their way to playing a role in gene regulation today — suggesting a vast portion of unknown evolutionary history that we're only scratching the surface of. "Transposable elements are thought to play important roles in genome evolution, and their significance is expected to become clearer as research continues to advance," Inoue said. More on genetics: Elon Musk Using Eugenics Startup to Inspect DNA of Potential Babies for Intelligence


The Hill
a day ago
- The Hill
Freshwater is disappearing from the Earth at alarming rates: Study
The planet has endured massive freshwater losses over the past two decades due to the combined effects of climate change, overconsumption and drought, a new study has found. Arid land areas are expanding at a rate roughly twice the size of California each year, according to the study, published in Science Advances. Dry spots are now drying up faster than wet areas are getting wetter — reversing historic hydrological patterns, per the research. This continental-scale phenomenon of 'mega-drying,' the study authors warned, could have severe consequences on water security, agriculture, sea level rise and global stability. Describing their results as 'staggering,' the researchers determined that 75 percent of the world's population lives in 101 countries that have been losing freshwater for the past 22 years 'These findings send perhaps the most alarming message yet about the impact of climate change on our water resources,' principal investigator Jay Famiglietti, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Sustainability, said in a statement. 'Continents are drying, freshwater availability is shrinking, and sea level rise is accelerating,' Famiglietti added. To evaluate changes in terrestrial water storage, the researchers combed through more than two decades of satellite observations — from April 2002 through April 2024 — from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On missions. They defined terrestrial water storage as all of Earth's surface and vegetation water, soil moisture, ice, snow and groundwater stored on land. Ultimately, the researchers identified robust changes in these water storage levels since previous global studies. These declines, they found, have been driven by high-latitude water losses in Russia and Canada, extreme in Central America and Europe and groundwater depletion — responsible for 68 percent of the losses alone. The researchers also identified a 'tipping point' in 2014-2015, years that meteorologists generally characterize as 'mega El-Niño.' In North America, El-Niño years typically involve dryness and warmth in the northern U.S. and Canada, with increased flooding in the South. Near the tipping point, climate extremes began accelerating, leading to a surge in groundwater use and continental drying-up that surpassed the rates of glacier and ice sheet melting, per the study. Evaluating their 22 years of data, the scientists also determined that certain water storage loss 'hotspots' previously assumed to be isolated were actually interconnected. These places, they concluded, make up four continental-scale, mega-drying regions. The first region spans the U.S. Southwest, Mexico and Central America and includes many major food-producing regions. The second, meanwhile, includes Alaska and Northern Canada, which are stricken by snow and permafrost melt, as well as drying in agricultural zones. Northern Russia, per the study, is the third region and is also undergoing considerable snow and permafrost melting in high latitude zones. The fourth area, the Middle East-North Africa region and Pan-Eurasia, houses multiple major desert cities, food producing hubs, shrinking seas and urban cities, the researchers noted. 'It is striking how much non-renewable water we are losing,' lead author Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar, a research scientist at Arizona State, said in a statement. 'Glaciers and deep groundwater are sort of ancient trust funds,' he added. 'Instead of using them only in times of need such as a prolonged drought, we are taking them for granted.' Chandanpurkar also lamented the fact that humans are failing to replenish groundwater reservoirs during wet years and are thereby nearing 'an imminent freshwater bankruptcy.' Describing their findings as 'a planetary wake-up call,' the authors stressed a need for ongoing research that can help inform policymakers about these dire water challenges. The researchers also advocated for community-level opportunities to make meaningful change, particularly when it comes to excessive pumping of groundwater. The consequences of overusing the remaining groundwater, Famiglietti warned, could threaten 'food and water security for billions of people around the world.' 'This is an 'all-hands-on-deck' moment — we need immediate action on global water security,' he said.