Record Breaker

Austrian Wingsuit Pilot Sets Record with 6-Minute, Engine-Free Flight in Switzerland

November 11, 2024

Austrian wingsuit pilot Peter Salzmann has achieved a groundbreaking milestone in human flight, setting new world records with a nearly six-minute, engine-free flight using only a wingsuit foil. The record-breaking feat took place on October 24, when Salzmann made a daring jump from the scenic Jungfrau mountain in Switzerland, a location renowned for its breathtaking views.

Teaming up with Red Bull for this ambitious challenge, Salzmann’s flight lasted an impressive 5 minutes and 56 seconds, making it the longest BASE jump flight time ever recorded. He also achieved the longest BASE jump distance, traveling a remarkable 7.77 miles (12.5 kilometers) during the descent.

Record Breaker, Science & Technology News

Key facts as India surpasses China as the world’s most populous country

February 21, 2023

The recent news that India has surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country has generated significant attention and discussion. According to a recent article in Pew Research Center’s Fact Tank, India’s population is currently estimated to be around 1.39 billion, while China’s is estimated to be around 1.36 billion.

The article quotes various experts and provides important context about India’s population growth and its potential implications. For example, it cites Sanjay Kumar, director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi, who notes that India is experiencing significant demographic changes, including a growing youth population and a declining fertility rate. He suggests that these changes could have important implications for India’s economy and social development in the coming decades.

Record Breaker

Meet Frontier, The World’s Fastest Supercomputer That Will Solve Humanity’s Crises

June 10, 2022

By Bharat Sharma

The new “Frontier” supercomputer can clock in speeds up to 1.1 exaflops, faster than the next seven most powerful supercomputers on Earth combined.

Frontier is also the first supercomputer to break the exascale speed barrier (billion billion calculations per second), according to the Top500 list of world’s most powerful supercomputers

A new supercomputer is in town! The new “Frontier” supercomputer can clock in speeds up to 1.1 exaflops, faster than the next seven most powerful supercomputers on Earth combined – yes, it’s that fast! Frontier is also the first supercomputer to break the exascale speed barrier (billion billion calculations per second), according to the Top500 list of world’s most powerful supercomputers.

Record Breaker, Science & Technology News

China unveils 373-mph ‘levitating’ train, fastest ground vehicle in the world

July 26, 2021

The Chinese train uses “maglev” technology, meaning it levitates above the track with no contact between body and rail.

By Theo Wayt

China unveiled a futuristic “levitating” train on Tuesday that has a top speed of 373 miles per hour — making it the fastest ground vehicle in the world.

By comparison, Tesla’s Model S Plaid — which the company bills as the fastest production car in the world — tops out at just 200 mph.

The Chinese train uses “maglev” technology, meaning electromagnetic forces allow the train to levitate above the track with no contact between body and rail. The lack of friction lets the train reach blistering speeds.

Automobiles, Electric Vehicles, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Tesla

Tesla opens world’s largest Supercharger station

November 26, 2020

It is located between two of Tesla’s biggest markets.

Tesla has been quickly expanding its Supercharger network lately and it just reached another milestone by opening the world’s new largest Supercharger station.

Tesla’s fleet is growing at a fast pace and the automaker is adding more electric vehicles to the road than any other automaker.

At the same time, the company is trying to keep up its infrastructure, like service centers, mobile service fleet, and charging infrastructure in order to support its growing fleet.

Tesla’s charging infrastructure mainly consists of the Supercharger network, arguably one of the company’s greatest assets.

Continue reading… “Tesla opens world’s largest Supercharger station”

Alternative Transportation, Engineering, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Hyper loop achieves 1,000 KM/H speed in Korea, days after Virgin passenger test

November 24, 2020

South Korea hopes to launch first hyperloop network in 2024

A hyperloop prototype in South Korea has reached speeds over 1,000km/h, just days after a rival system performed the first successful passenger test using the technology.

The Korean Railroad Research Institute (Korail) announced on Wednesday that a “hyper-tube train” travelling through a vacuum hit a top speed of 1,019km/h (633mph).

The test took place on a scale model and is the first of its kind in the world, according to Business Korea. The previous top speed, also set by Korail, was 714km/h.

South Korea is hoping to launch a hyperloop network by 2024, cutting the journey time between Seoul and Busan from three hours to 30 minutes.

Continue reading… “Hyper loop achieves 1,000 KM/H speed in Korea, days after Virgin passenger test”

Engineering, Green Friendly, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel

October 28, 2020

(CNN) — After more than a decade of planning, work has begun on the world’s longest immersed tunnel. Descending up to 40 meters beneath the Baltic Sea, Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will link Denmark and Germany, slashing journey times when it opens in 2029.

The tunnel, which will be 18 kilometers (11.1 miles) long, is one of Europe’s largest infrastructure projects, with a construction budget of over €7 billion ($8.2 billion).

By way of comparison, the 50-kilometer (31-mile) Channel Tunnel linking England and France, completed in 1993, cost the equivalent of £12 billion ($15.5 billion) in today’s money. Although longer than the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, the Channel Tunnel, was made using a boring machine, rather than by immersing pre-built tunnel sections.

It will be built across the Fehmarn Belt, a strait between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland, and is designed as an alternative to the current ferry service from Rødby and Puttgarden, which carries millions of passengers every year. Where the crossing now takes 45 minutes by ferry, it will take just seven minutes by train and 10 minutes by car.

Continue reading… “Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel”

cutting edge, New Discoveries, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News

Meet the zeptosecond, the shortest unit of time ever measured

October 27, 2020

ABOVE – A particle of light, called a photon (yellow arrow), produces electron waves out of an electron cloud (grey) of a hydrogen molecule (red: nucleus). The result of those interactions is what’s called an interference pattern (violet-white). The interference pattern is slightly skewed to the right, allowing researchers to calculate the time for the photon to get from one atom to the next.

Scientists have measured the shortest unit of time ever: the time it takes a light particle to cross a hydrogen molecule.

That time, for the record, is 247 zeptoseconds. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second, or a decimal point followed by 20 zeroes and a 1. Previously, researchers had dipped into the realm of zeptoseconds; in 2016, researchers reporting in the journal Nature Physics used lasers to measure time in increments down to 850 zeptoseconds. This accuracy is a huge leap from the 1999 Nobel Prize-winning work that first measured time in femtoseconds, which are millionths of a billionths of seconds.

Continue reading… “Meet the zeptosecond, the shortest unit of time ever measured”

Energy, Engineering, New Discoveries, new technology, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News

Scientists create the world’s first room temperature superconductor

October 24, 2020

Superconducting materials typically require extremely cool temperatures to operate, which is demonstrated in this photo. But a new discovery could change that

Since its discovery more than a century ago, superconductivity has come to play a powerful role in many modern day technologies, such as maglev trains and MRI scans, but its utility has been limited by the need for extremely cool operating temperatures. Scientists are now claiming a big breakthrough in this area, creating what they say is the first material capable of superconductivity at room temperature.

The work was led by Ranga Dias at the University of Rochester, and aims to overcome one of the major roadblocks in expanding the uses of superconductive materials. These materials exhibit no electrical resistance and expel a magnetic field, but because they typically only function at temperatures below -140 °C (-220 °F), they require expensive equipment to maintain.

“Because of the limits of low temperature, materials with such extraordinary properties have not quite transformed the world in the way that many might have imagined,” says Dias. “However, our discovery will break down these barriers and open the door to many potential applications.”

Continue reading… “Scientists create the world’s first room temperature superconductor”

NASA, New Discoveries, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight

For the first time in its history, NASA successfully collects sample from asteroid

October 22, 2020

Touchdown!

For the first time in its history, NASA has successfully collected samples from the surface of an asteroid, using the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on Tuesday.

The small spacecraft has been orbiting Bennu, an asteroid 500 meters across, for almost two years. Around 6 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, the spacecraft completed a “Touch-And-Go” maneuver before firing its thrusters to get back to a safe distance from the asteroid. The lonely space rock was more than 200 million miles away at the time.

“We did it,” principal investigator Dante Lauretta said during the agency’s live broadcast. “We’ve tagged the surface of the asteroid.”

Continue reading… “For the first time in its history, NASA successfully collects sample from asteroid”

Electric Vehicles, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Silver lightning custom electric motorcycle breaks 1/4-mile world record

October 22, 2020

The time to beat has remained in place for a whopping eight years.

Hans-Henrik Thomsen pulled off an incredible 6.87-second 1/4-mile pass to break a record that has been in place for eight years. He was riding the custom-built Silver Lightning electric drag-racing motorcycle for Danish racing team True Cousins.

According to a report by Electrek, True Cousins set out to beat electric motorcycle racing records some 12 years ago. The team’s first bike had only 12 kW of electric power. However, they’ve been working hard for years to improve their chances. The team’s latest electric machine is 100 times more powerful, at a crazy 1,200 kW (1.2 Megawatts).

True Cousins’ goal was to beat the 1/4-mile electric motorcycle record of 6.94 seconds, which was set in 2012 by Larry McBride. They had nine total runs to see if they could pull it off. With two-thirds of the runs in the books, it didn’t look like they’d be able to beat the record. Their best time out of six total runs was 7.15 seconds. Ridiculously quick, but not quick enough.

Continue reading… “Silver lightning custom electric motorcycle breaks 1/4-mile world record”

cutting edge, quantum computing, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News

D-Wave’s 5,000-qubit quantum computing platform handles 1 million variables

October 7, 2020

D-Wave Advantage System

D-Wave today launched its next-generation quantum computing platform available via its Leap quantum cloud service. The company calls Advantage “the first quantum computer built for business.” In that vein, D-Wave today also debuted Launch, a jump-start program for businesses that want to begin building hybrid quantum applications.

“The Advantage quantum computer is the first quantum computer designed and developed from the ground up to support business applications,” D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz told VentureBeat. “We engineered it to be able to deal with large, complex commercial applications and to be able to support the running of those applications in production environments. There is no other quantum computer anywhere in the world that can solve problems at the scale and complexity that this quantum computer can solve problems. It really is the only one that you can run real business applications on. The other quantum computers are primarily prototypes. You can do experimentation, run small proofs of concept, but none of them can support applications at the scale that we can.”

Continue reading… “D-Wave’s 5,000-qubit quantum computing platform handles 1 million variables”