Scientists have just begun the third phase of a years-long experiment to understand how salt and very salty water behave near hot nuclear waste containers in a salt-bed repository. Salt’s unique physical properties can be used to provide safe disposal of radioactive waste, said Kristopher Kuhlman, a Sandia geoscientist and technical lead for the project.…

A novel computer algorithm that could create a broadly reactive influenza vaccine for swine flu also offers a path toward a pan-influenza vaccine and possibly a pan-coronavirus vaccine as well, according to a new paper. «This work takes us a step closer to a pan-swine flu virus vaccine,» said Bette Korber, a computational biologist at…

Geologists have developed a machine learning technique that highlights the potential for further deposits of the critical metal tungsten in SW England. Tungsten is an essential component of high-performance steels but global production is strongly influenced by China and western countries are keen to develop alternative sources. The work, published in the leading journal Geoscience…

Researchers are applying machine learning algorithms to help interpret massive amounts of ground deformation data collected with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) satellites; the new algorithms will improve earthquake detection. «Applying machine learning to InSAR data gives us a new way to understand the physics behind tectonic faults and earthquakes,» said Bertrand Rouet-Leduc, a geophysicist…

Whether a transformer catches fire in a power grid, a species disappears from an ecosystem, or water floods a city street, many systems can absorb a certain amount of disruption. But how badly does a single failure weaken the network? And how much damage can it take before it tips into collapse? «After a certain…

Earthquake early warnings can be delivered successfully using a small network of off-the-shelf smartphones attached to building baseboards, according to a study conducted in Costa Rica last year. In his presentation at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)’s 2021 Annual Meeting, Ben Brooks of the U.S. Geological Survey said the ASTUTI (Alerta Sismica Temprana Utilizando…

Researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that classifies the sleep stages of mice with record accuracy. This work may be used to greatly enhance the field of sleep research. Scientists who study sleep often use mice as animal models to better understand the ways the activity in the brain changes during the various phases.…

Civil engineers develop a computational modeling strategy to help plan effective repairs to damaged reinforced concrete columns. These repairs usually involve replacing loose concrete and fractured steel bars and adding extra materials around the damaged area to further strengthen it against future loads. Engineers at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering and Texas…

Researchers develop tool that ‘audits’ the results of studies that examine interplay between variables. Using this approach, researchers identify inconsistent findings in one-third of previous association studies of gut microbiome and disease. The software can help researchers check the reliability of their own findings before submitting them for publication. Association studies are critical in paving…

A new machine-learning model that generates realistic seismic waveforms will reduce manual labor and improve earthquake detection, according to a new study. «To verify the e?cacy of our generative model, we applied it to seismic ?eld data collected in Oklahoma,» said Youzuo Lin, a computational scientist in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Geophysics group and principal…