Tag: IFTTT

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Breakthrough Hydrogen Fuel Production Uses 3 Unlikely Ingredients

https://www.autoblog.com/news/breakthrough-hydrogen-fuel-production-uses-3-unlikely-ingredients

Engineering experts get ‘in the ballpark’ of green hydrogen

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found a way to produce hydrogen gas with a smaller carbon footprint by combining recycled soda cans with seawater and caffeine. Most current methods for hydrogen fuel production are less eco-friendly due to their reliance on fossil fuels, but MIT’s study found that its alternative manufacturing process could be applied at an industrial scale.

The team of researchers calculated the carbon emissions associated with sourcing and processing aluminum, reacting it with seawater for hydrogen production, and transporting it to fuel stations. They found that for every kilogram of hydrogen produced, the process would generate 1.45 kilograms of carbon dioxide over its entire life cycle, 9.55 kilograms fewer than traditional fossil-fuel-based methods. One kilogram of hydrogen can take a hydrogen fuel cell car 37 to 62 miles on average, and the team calculated the cost of their fuel production method as $9 per kilogram.

The new process starts with pellets of recycled aluminum (in jar) that react with seawater to produce pure hydrogen. The team found that if scaled up, the process could generate “green” hydrogen with a low-carbon footprint.

Tony Pulsone? MIT MechE

The study’s assessments centered on using recycled aluminum, as it saves a significant amount of emissions compared to mining for aluminum. Salt in seawater proved valuable due to its ability to sustainably precipitate gallium-indium, a rare-metal alloy that effectively removes aluminum’s protective oxide layer, exposing pure metal that produces hydrogen when combined with seawater. The researchers were unable to source gallium-indium from regular water, as oxygen causes aluminum to instantly form a shield-like layer that won’t readily cause a reaction, which caffeine helped speed up.

Dr. Aly Kombargi, a recent MIT mechanical engineering graduate who was the study’s lead author, said in a release from the university: “We’re in the ballpark of green hydrogen. One of the main benefits of using aluminum is the energy density per unit volume. With a very small amount of aluminum fuel, you can conceivably supply much of the power for a hydrogen-fueled vehicle.”

What this hydrogen production method could look like at scale

Regarding commercial-scale production, these MIT researchers outlined the process as starting with scrap aluminum from a recycling center, shredding that aluminum into pellets, and treating it with gallium-indium, then transporting the pellets as aluminum fuel instead of moving hydrogen, which can be volatile. The ideal fuel station would be near a seawater source, and these researchers are exploring underwater production applications. The team was able to make life cycle assessments for their hydrogen manufacturing method using Earthster, a software tool pulling data from a vast repository of products and processes.

Their extensive assessments included primary aluminum mined from the earth versus recycled aluminum, while also evaluating different aluminum and hydrogen transportation methods. The researchers found that once its process using recycled aluminum was complete, it left behind boehmite, an aluminum-based byproduct used in semiconductor and electronic production, which could be sold to manufacturers, further reducing costs, Tech Explorist reports.

A researcher demonstrates “activating” aluminum by dipping an aluminum pellet in a mixture of gallium-indium.

Tony Pulsone

Final thoughts

Kombargi’s team discovered how recycled aluminum pretreated with a gallium-indium alloy and seawater could facilitate hydrogen fuel production in 2024, but during conferences, the researchers were frequently asked about the method’s carbon footprint and cost. Subsequently, extensive trials allowed the team to determine that for every kilogram of hydrogen produced, the process would generate 1.45 kilograms of carbon dioxide over its entire life cycle, 9.55 kilograms fewer than traditional fossil-fuel-based methods. The process’s cost of $9 per kilogram is comparable to the price of hydrogen generated with other green technologies such as wind and solar energy, creating a complementary solution.

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July 23, 2025 at 04:09PM

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GM’s Super Cruise Hands-Free System Just Got Even Better

https://www.autoblog.com/news/gms-super-cruise-hands-free-system-even-better

Super Cruise keeps pace with Ford’s BlueCruise and Tesla’s Autopilot

Super Cruise is one of the leading hands-free driver-assistance systems in the industry. It may not outperform Tesla’s Autopilot or Ford’s BlueCruise in every way, but it’s good enough to make long journeys a lot less fatiguing. 

The great thing about these systems is that they’re always being improved. Last year, Super Cruise expanded to include about 750,000 miles of compatible roads in the United States and Canada. Now, GM is about to roll out a few new features for the system for 2026 model year vehicles.

Two Key New Functions Added



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original article

As part of GM’s second-quarter earnings report, the company also detailed the upcoming changes to Super Cruise. 

Firstly, the system will now offer integration with Google Maps. Super Cruise has relied on pre-mapped roads to operate until now. Google Maps integration should further improve the system when drivers are navigating to their next destination. This addition makes sense, given that many GM vehicles already feature Google built-in, seamlessly linking up to Google Maps.

The other new feature is the ability of Super Cruise to automatically switch to hands-free mode when transitioning to a compatible road. This function should result in one less step for the driver and more people switching to hands-free driving more often.

These new functions add to existing Super Cruise features like automatic lane changes and the ability to use the system while towing.

Super Cruise Availability Still Increasing

General Motors Super Cruise

Cadillac

By the end of June, there were over 500,000 vehicles on the road equipped with Super Cruise. This is a year-on-year increase of over 100%, and by the end of 2025, GM expects to double the number of cars that have the hands-free system.

Of Super Cruise’s customers, over 60% are active monthly users, with over 200,000 monthly active users in the second quarter of this year.

While initially available on more expensive GM vehicles, Super Cruise has gradually filtered down to more affordable models such as the Chevrolet Equinox EV, Chevrolet Blazer EV, and Cadillac CT4. 

As 2026 models are now starting to roll out, owners can soon start enjoying the refinements made to Super Cruise.

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July 23, 2025 at 10:50AM

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After 90 Days on a Vibration Plate, My Legs Feel the Same, but My Brain Feels Amazing

https://lifehacker.com/health/how-i-feel-after-90-days-on-a-vibration-plate

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From 1969 to 2025, the idea of vibrating your way to fitness just won’t go away. Whatever shape they take, vibration plates are a relentless wellness trend, with influencers claiming they’ll transform your body with minimal effort.

Both Lifehacker’s senior health editor Beth Skwarecki and I have previously busted those myths. While your muscles do contract during the vibrating experience, these aren’t the same type of contractions that build substantial strength or burn meaningful calories. After all, if something sounds too good to be true on social media, it probably is. But does that mean it’s completely without merit?

Given all this context, I still gave my vibration plate a shot. I wasn’t expecting to get a new set of legs, but I wanted to see what these devices actually do when used consistently in real-world conditions.

My 90-day vibration experiment

I used this $109.99 (currently $98.99) vibration plate from Merach, a popular brand on the TikTok Shop.

My approach was deliberately simple and sustainable. Every day for 90 days, I committed to 10 minutes on the vibration plate. I kept myself engaged with light squats, calf raises, or simply standing in different positions while the machine did its thing. Most evenings, I’d park myself on the plate while watching TV, listening to music, or simply zoning out at the end of a long day. It became a ritual—a small pocket of time that was entirely mine.

The beauty of this routine wasn’t in its intensity but in its consistency. Ten minutes felt manageable even on the busiest days. Sometimes I’d be actively moving, other times I’d just stand there and let the vibrations wash over me like a full-body massage. There was something oddly meditative about surrendering to the mechanical rhythm.

The unexpected brain benefits

After three months, my legs look and feel exactly the same. As expected. My strength hadn’t dramatically improved, and I wasn’t suddenly running faster or jumping higher. But the most interesting effect wasn’t physical at all.

I loved the way the vibration plate cleared my head. Maybe it was placebo, or perhaps more about the ritual than the vibrating itself, but I found this device tickled my brain in an amazing way—and I’m not alone. Scrolling through comments on vibration plate videos or Reddit threads, tons of people share this sentiment, particularly when it comes to their ADHD symptoms.

I have ADHD myself, and those 10 minutes became a reset button for my scattered thoughts. Whether I’d had a stressful day at work or felt overwhelmed by endless tasks, stepping onto that vibrating platform seemed to shake loose the mental static. My racing mind would slow down, and I’d feel a little more more centered and focused.

What the science says

Since this was all wildly anecdotal and subjective, I wanted to understand if there was any research backing this up. A small study from 2014 found promising effects of whole body vibration on attention in both healthy individuals and adults with ADHD. More research is needed, but their theories suggest that the sensory input from vibration might help regulate an overactive mind, similar to how fidget tools can help people with ADHD concentrate.

I’d love to see more research about the effects of vibration plates specifically on people with ADHD and other attention disorders. For now, all I know is that it felt like it calmed my mind in ways I hadn’t expected. The vibration plate didn’t transform my physique, but the gentle shaking sure was like a fidget spinner for my brain.

The bottom line

The wellness industry loves to oversell simple solutions, and vibration plates are no exception. Still, I sincerely enjoy my vibration plate as a recovery tool and relaxation device (rather than a fitness game-changer). It’s become part of my wind-down routine, like bedtime reading or yoga. The physical benefits might be minimal, but the mental ones are noteworthy enough for me.

If you’re considering a vibration plate, adjust your expectations accordingly. Don’t expect miraculous muscle gains or dramatic weight loss. But if you’re looking for a unique way to decompress, manage stress, or quiet a busy mind, these devices might offer unexpected value.

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July 22, 2025 at 01:13PM

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You Don’t Want to Know Where Scientists Just Found 27 Million Tons of Plastic

https://gizmodo.com/you-dont-want-to-know-where-scientists-just-found-27-million-tons-of-plastic-2000632563

Despite the hundreds of millions of metric tons of plastic floating in our oceans—not to mention the microplastics in our saliva, blood, breast milk, and semen—researchers have been unable to account for all the plastic ever produced. A new study has just tracked down a large portion of it.

Researchers from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and Utrecht University claim to be the first to provide a real estimate of ocean-polluting nanoplastics. Their research indicates that the North Atlantic Ocean alone hosts 27 million tons of floating plastic particles less than 1 micrometer (?m) in size.

“Plastic pollution of the marine realm is widespread, with most scientific attention given to macroplastics and microplastics. By contrast, ocean nanoplastics (<1??m) remain largely unquantified, leaving gaps in our understanding of the mass budget of this plastic size class,” they explained in a study published earlier this month in the journal Nature. “Our findings suggest that nanoplastics comprise the dominant fraction of marine plastic pollution.”

To reach these conclusions, Utrecht graduate student and study co-author Sophie ten Hietbrink collected water samples from 12 locations while working aboard a research vessel traveling from the Azores to the continental shelf of Europe. She filtered the samples of anything larger than one micrometer and conducted a molecular analysis on what was left behind. The team then extrapolated its results to the entire North Atlantic Ocean.

27 million tons is “a shocking amount,” Ten Hietbrink said in a NIOZ statement. “But with this we do have an important answer to the paradox of the missing plastic.” Namely, that a large part of it is floating in our oceans, invisible to the naked eye.

Unfortunately, there are a number of ways nanoparticles can end up in the oceans. While some likely arrive via rivers, others fall out of the sky with rain or on their own as “dry deposition.” (Yes, we’ve even found plastic pollution in the sky). Nanoparticles can also form when large pieces of plastic already in the ocean are broken down by waves and/or sunlight, according to the researchers. The question now is how this pollution is impacting the world and its creatures—including us.

“It is already known that nanoplastics can penetrate deep into our bodies. They are even found in brain tissue. Now that we know they are so ubiquitous in the oceans, it’s also obvious that they penetrate the entire ecosystem; from bacteria and other microorganisms to fish and top predators like humans,” said Helge Niemann, a geochemist at NIOZ and another co-author of the study. “How that pollution affects the ecosystem needs further investigation.”

The missing plastic paradox, however, is not completely solved, because not all plastics were represented in the samples. The team didn’t find polyethylene or polypropylene, for example.

“It may well be that those were masked by other molecules in the study. We also want to know if nanoplastics are as abundant in the other oceans. It is to be feared that they do, but that remains to be proven,” Niemann added. “The nanoplastics that are there, can never be cleaned up. So an important message from this research is that we should at least prevent the further pollution of our environment with plastics.”

via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com/

July 22, 2025 at 11:00AM

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Two Cancer Drugs Show Surprising Promise in Treating Alzheimer’s

http://www.discovermagazine.com/health/two-cancer-drugs-show-surprising-promise-in-treating-alzheimers

In the U.S. alone, seven million people live with Alzheimer’s disease, yet treatment options remain limited. Although cases are expected to triple by 2050, only a handful of drugs are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), none of which can cure or reverse progression, only manage symptoms.

Motivated by this lack of options, researchers from UC San Francisco and the Gladstone Institutes explored whether already-approved drugs — albeit drugs approved to treat different conditions — might help. Interestingly, a combination of two cancer drugs stood out: Research in mice showed that this combination reduced brain degeneration and restored memory, according to findings recently published in Cell, pointing towards a potent treatment path never considered before.

Genetic Traces of Alzheimer’s

“Alzheimer’s is likely the result of numerous alterations in many genes and proteins that, together, disrupt brain health,” explained Yadong Huang, study co-senior author in a press release. “This makes it very challenging for drug development — which traditionally produces one drug for a single gene or protein that drives disease.”

To tackle this complexity, the team gathered publicly available data from three studies measuring gene expression in brain cells from deceased donors with or without Alzheimer’s. Using these datasets, they created gene expression signatures representing the disease in certain brain cells, then compared them with those in the Connectivity Map, a database cataloguing how thousands of drugs affect gene expression in human cells.

From an initial pool of 1,300 drugs, 86 showed potential to reverse the Alzheimer’s gene expression signature in one brain cell type, and 25 reversed it in several cell types, making it more potent for complex condition like Alzheimer’s. However, only 10 of these drugs had already been approved by the FDA for human use.

Read More: Alzheimer’s Disease Blood Test Could Lead to Earlier, More Effective Treatment

Cancer Drugs to Treat Alzheimer’s?

To narrow the list further, the research team checked anonymized medical records in the UC Health Data Warehouse, covering 1.4 million people over age 65, to see whether any of the promising drugs also reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s as a side effect.

“Thanks to all these existing data sources, we went from 1,300 drugs, to 86, to 10, to just 5,” said Yaqiao Li, lead author, in the news release. “In particular, the rich data collected by all the UC health centers pointed us straight to the most promising drugs. It’s kind of like a mock clinical trial.”

From the top five candidates, the researchers chose two cancer drugs for laboratory testing. They assumed that letrozole, commonly used to treat breast cancer, would improve neuronal health, while irinotecan, used for colon and lung cancer, would benefit glial cells.

Next Step: Clinical Trials

To test their hypothesis, the team used a mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease. Combining both drugs worked wonders: The treatment revoked harmful gene expression signatures in neurons and glia, reduced toxic protein clumps and brain degeneration, and restored memory.

“It’s so exciting to see the validation of the computational data in a widely used Alzheimer’s mouse model,” Huang said, anticipating moving to clinical trial to test the combination therapy in Alzheimer’s patients soon.

“We’re hopeful this can be swiftly translated into a real solution for millions of patients with Alzheimer’s,” added study co-author Marina Sirota in the press statement.

Sirota emphasized how combining computational approaches with existing medical data opens new avenues in drug discovery. “Alzheimer’s disease comes with complex changes to the brain, which has made it tough to study and treat, but our computational tools opened up the possibility of tackling the complexity directly,” she said. “We’re excited that [it] led us to a potential combination therapy for Alzheimer’s based on existing FDA-approved medications.”

Read More: Rosemary and Sage Could Lead to Better Alzheimer’s Treatment

Article Sources

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:

Having worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard.

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July 21, 2025 at 04:45PM

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A U.S. startup is selling your stolen data to anyone with $50

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2854343/a-u-s-startup-is-selling-your-hacked-stolen-data-to-anyone-with-50.html

When you imagine personal data stolen on the internet, like your address, phone number, internet history, or even passwords, you probably think of hackers passing it to identity thieves. Maybe you think of cops getting their hands on it in less-than-legal ways, or maybe an insurance company spying on its customers. But apparently anyone can buy this data, from a U.S. company, for as little as $50.

That company is Farnsworth Intelligence, an “open-source intel” startup from 23-year-old founder Aidan Raney. And it’s not being coy about what it’s doing. The company’s primary consumer-level product is called “Infostealers,” and it’s hosted at Infostealers.info. (Yup, what a URL.) According to an exposé from 404 Media, a simple purchase starting at fifty bucks can get you access to a searchable database of personal data from people all over the United States and the world.

And this isn’t just the usual stuff you could find on the various “people pages” sites, the somewhat scummy descendants of the Yellow Pages. No, this is information apparently sourced directly from data breaches, stolen from companies and services in ways that just about every country considers a crime. There’s a full suite of data available for perusing, up to and including the auto-fill addresses you stick into your browser so you don’t have to type them into every new store.

Infostealers.info login page

Farnsaworth Intelligence’s primary public-facing info search tool is called “Infostealers.info.”

Farnsworth Intelligence

But it goes even deeper. Farnsworth Intelligence’s more powerful Infostealer Data Platform product will serve up private data that includes usernames and passwords. Yes, again, the actual product is called “Infostealer.” This feature isn’t available to just anyone…but it is available to anyone who can provide a compelling reason. The list of apparently legitimate use cases Farnsworth accepts includes “private investigations, intelligence, journalism, law enforcement, cyber security, compliance, IP/brand protection.”

There’s no mention of a warrant necessary to access this stolen information.

Farnsworth’s public-facing sight seems almost gleefully eager to declare its ability to collect information via less-than-legitimate means. “We are renown [sic] for our human intelligence capabilities, having successfully infiltrated a North Korean laptop farm through social engineering techniques and succesfully [sic] extracting intelligence that saved companies millions of dollars,” declares a promo blurb. Farnsworth says this information can be used for “corporate due diligence,” “enhanced background checks,” and “advanced asset searches.” Exactly how Farnsworth procures its trillions of data points is not disclosed.

It’s easy enough to find stolen personal info, since hardly a week goes by without a database of millions of users making its way onto the dark web. And there are legitimate reasons for people to find and catalog those databases, like security companies alerting their customers when their passwords have been leaked. But brazenly selling stolen information on the open market, especially when there are so many companies, governments, and other state-level actors that can use it to do harm, seems incredibly callous.

And it’s worth pointing out that evidence obtained illegally is generally inadmissible in a criminal prosecution. But that wouldn’t stop, say, an abusive ex from tracking down their victim’s most recent address. There are plenty of other ways for illegally obtained information to be used to hurt people. I’m sure I don’t have to draw you a picture of why groups of vulnerable people who are already targeted wouldn’t want it to be searchable by private investigators or government agents, with nothing more than a credit card.

I’m a technology journalist. I don’t have the authority to declare behavior like this legal or illegal, and my employer’s lawyers would probably tackle me if I tried. But as a human being, I can point out that collecting private, stolen information, then selling it to anyone without a thought for what further damage it might cause, is the epitome of sociopathic greed. “It would be illegal and unethical to sell stolen cell phones even if you didn’t steal them yourself, and I don’t see how this is any different,” said Cooper Quintin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

404 Media requested comment from both Farnsworth Intelligence and its founder, and received no response. I highly recommend reading 404 Media’s original report for the full scope of the situation.

via PCWorld https://www.pcworld.com

July 21, 2025 at 02:05PM

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Inventor builds mechanical computer with thousands of Knex pieces

https://www.popsci.com/technology/knex-mechanical-computer/

Today’s world runs on digital computers, but there was a time when people relied on their analog siblings. Instead of electrical signals, mechanical computers utilize complex systems of gears, weights, and other physical implements to perform tasks. As recently as the 1960s, accounting devices like the Soviet Union’s Ascota 170 could even perform square roots, but some of the earliest mechanical computers may even trace all the way back to the famous Antikythera mechanism. Discovered in an ancient shipwreck near Crete in 1901, experts now believe ancient Greeks built the device around 100 BCE to calculate astronomical positions.

Mechanical computers may not oversee today’s automated tasks, but it’s still possible to build your own using literal children’s toys. That said, one YouTuber’s ongoing DIY mechanical computer project looks so dizzyingly complex that—for the time being—most people will likely stick with their smartphone’s calculator app.

The inventor who goes by Shadowman39 on YouTube is a longtime Knex aficionado. His previous projects built from the connectible, plastic building pieces include everything from coin sorters, to gigantic motion machines, to even a functioning Skee Ball cabinet. More recently, he opted to design and construct a device capable of performing basic calculations like addition and subtraction. Although he’s planning on expanding its abilities, the YouTuber recently uploaded the first look at his Knex 8-bit mechanical computer—specifically its “very simple” arithmetic logic unit, or ALU.

“Very simple,” in this case, refers to a roughly 3.5-foot-tall contraption built using thousands of Knex pieces, wheels, and conveyor belts. All those parts are divided up into eight columns, each one responsible for a single bit of binary data represented as a 0 or 1. The 8-bit system is capable of handling operations using the numbers 0-255, although Shadowman39 notes (using some rather dense mathematical reasoning) that it can also work with the number range of -128 to 127.

While there is an electrical line to power initial movement, the actual calculations themselves take place through mechanical means. Depending on the user’s input, the Knex computer will use its rack and pinions to initiate cranks capable of rotating 360 degrees while anchored by a pair of weights and counterweights. These actions compound across the eight columns until a calculation is completed.

“It looks like a mess but I promise it’s just organized chaos,” the inventor says at one point.

You might just need to take his word for it on that front. In any case, the YouTuber promises additional videos are coming that will delve into how data and program storage will work in its RAM and ROM. It may not find its way onto desktops, but the Knex project highlights the uniquely tactile and ingenious designs required to construct even the most rudimentary of mechanical computers.

The post Inventor builds mechanical computer with thousands of Knex pieces appeared first on Popular Science.

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July 21, 2025 at 10:23AM