In Tennessee, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is seeing positive results with equine therapy, a well-established rehabilitation method.
The Department recently shared success stories from the Center for Equine Recovery (CERV) at Middle Tennessee State University. The program connects veterans from the Tennessee Valley VA with horses, helping them understand equine behavior and, in turn, learn more about themselves.
Horses are highly sensitive to their handlers’ emotions, requiring a state of calm to work with them safely. This has proven beneficial for veterans, as one organizer described horses as “big bio-feedback machines.” Joanne Parchetta, a participant in the program, shared how working with horses has helped her overcome challenges related to chronic illness and disability. “This class showed me I can still achieve and dream,” she said.
CERV’s program helps veterans process their emotions by reflecting them through the horses. This feedback allows them to better understand and work through their behaviors. It is the only program of its kind in the nation, though more are likely needed. Veterans, especially those from older generations, face a higher risk of suicide than the general public.
Two weeks ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a warning about a massive geomagnetic solar storm that began on August 11.
Within hours, a breathtaking aurora lit up the sky, captured by two photographers—one a pilot on a passenger plane and the other an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Timelapse of the moon setting into streams of red and green aurora followed by a sunrise lighting up Soyuz with a light blue.
The aurora have been amazing the past few days. Great timing for trying out a new lens that recently arrived on Cygnus.
A series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) produced a spectacular light show lasting over 48 hours, visible across North America and possibly reaching as far south as Alabama and Northern California.
NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, orbiting on the ISS, shared incredible images of the aurora online, gaining thousands of fans.
Matthew Dominick – X
Meanwhile, Scott Bateman, a pilot flying an Airbus A350-1000 on a long-haul international flight, had a front-row view of the spectacle from within Earth’s atmosphere. Bateman described the scenes as he flew across the globe: “It was spectacular! It started as we passed Chicago at 39,000 feet and lasted until dawn over Ireland, when it turned purple. I have never seen the aurora borealis so vivid with reds and purples.”
Scott Bateman from the cockpit of an Airbus – cropped
Bateman captured these stunning images using his iPhone 15 without any editing or filters, offering an unaltered view of the aurora from his cockpit.
Red and green Northern Lights by pilot Scott Bateman at 39k feet – cropped
Auroras result from disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar flares and winds. These dynamic light displays can appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or flickering patterns across the sky.
Purple Northern Lights over Ireland by Scott Bateman – cropped
Quantum computers may still be years away from being powerful enough to perform useful tasks, but it’s becoming increasingly likely that fully functional, error-corrected quantum computers will be operational within the next five to 10 years.
Quantum computers are advanced machines that leverage the principles of quantum mechanics, using quantum bits (qubits) that can exist in multiple states simultaneously, allowing them to process complex computations far more efficiently than classical computers. This capability enables quantum computers to solve certain problems, such as factoring large numbers or simulating molecular structures, exponentially faster than traditional computers.
This will be a major breakthrough for scientists tackling complex problems in chemistry and material science. However, it also poses a significant threat to current encryption methods, such as the RSA algorithm, which currently secures sensitive internet communications like online banking. While traditional computers would take decades to crack RSA encryption, quantum computers could potentially break it with ease.
This looming threat has driven the development of post-quantum cryptography algorithms. On Tuesday, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the first set of standards for these algorithms: ML-KEM (formerly CRYSTALS-Kyber), ML-DSA (previously CRYSTALS-Dilithium), and SLH-DSA (initially submitted as SPHINCS+). For many companies, this signals that now is the time to begin implementing these new cryptographic standards.
The question of when quantum computers will be capable of breaking RSA encryption is still open to debate, but it’s increasingly accepted that this could happen between the end of this decade and 2035. Gil, a cybersecurity expert, emphasizes that businesses should start considering the implications of a world where RSA encryption is no longer secure. He warns that a patient adversary could start collecting encrypted data now, with the intention of decrypting it in the future once quantum computers become powerful enough.
Despite the urgency of the situation, Gil notes that few businesses—and perhaps even fewer government institutions—fully understand the gravity of the problem, let alone are taking steps to address it. He describes the awareness and action level as being in its infancy.
One reason for the lack of action, Gil suggests, is the absence of established standards until now, making the new NIST standards particularly significant. Additionally, the long-standing belief that quantum computing was perpetually “five years away” has led to skepticism and a tendency to delay action.
Gil acknowledges that many CISOs are aware of the threat, but they often lack the urgency to act, partly due to uncertainty about which solutions to implement and the overwhelming task of migrating from current cryptographic protocols to new ones. He warns that this transition could take decades and will be a massive challenge for institutions and society as a whole.
If you want to learn more about the subject, check out this video that dissects the issue further.
Have you ever experienced a stadium so loud that the concrete shakes? Gyeongyun Lily Min, a high school senior from Lake Charles, Louisiana, was inspired by Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. to explore how this noise could be converted into electricity.
The film features monsters who power their world by harnessing children’s screams. Gyeongyun was intrigued by the idea of converting sound into usable energy and wondered if the noise in sports arenas could be used to generate electricity.
Her approach uses the piezoelectric effect, where certain materials generate electricity under pressure. This principle has been used in applications like electricity-generating roads and cochlear implants. In 2021, Jeremiah Thoronka was recognized for creating a piezoelectric machine that generates electricity from vehicles passing over roads, powering 150 homes without relying on weather or external power sources.
Gyeongyun’s idea was to harness soundwaves rather than direct kinetic force. She built a 22 by 12-inch model of an NBA arena and tested various placements of her harvester modules using sounds at 70 and 100 decibels. Although the results were limited due to the quality of the equipment—producing electricity in milliwatts rather than watts—she believes that with better equipment and on a larger scale, it could significantly reduce energy consumption in sports arenas.
Gyeongyun suggests that this technology could also be applied in urban environments. “In cities with heavy traffic, constant noise could be used to generate electricity for city infrastructure,” she told Smithsonian Magazine. “Manufacturing plants with continuous machinery noise could also use piezoelectric devices to capture sound vibrations and improve sustainability.”
In the shallow tropical reefs off Palau are enormous clams of the genus Tridacna. While very beautiful, they might seem otherwise unremarkable. However, a closer look at the shimmering blue flesh within their four-foot-long shells reveals an astonishing discovery: these clams host the most efficient solar panels ever found, according to new research.
“The fact that nobody could explain why a clam was iridescent really just stuck with me,” says Alison Sweeney, a Yale University biophysicist and co-author of the study.
In previous research, Sweeney and her colleagues found that despite their impressive iridescence, the clams’ fleshy mantles reflect only about 5 percent of the bright sunlight that hits them. The rest of the light is absorbed and directed to photosynthetic algae within the clam’s body, serving as a food source. This absorption rate is remarkably efficient for photosynthesis; by comparison, terrestrial forests like the Amazon reflect much more light, reducing their photosynthetic efficiency. Specialized cells called iridocytes line the mantle’s surface, containing transparent, protein-rich platelets that diffuse light inward.
In new research published in PRX Energy, Sweeney’s team examined the arrangement of the clams’ symbiotic algae, which are neatly organized in modified tubes extending from the digestive system. Unlike the random distribution of photosynthetic machinery in leaves, the clam’s algae form orderly columns stretching from the iridocyte layer into the flesh. “The clam basically plants them as if it were an agricultural field,” Sweeney explains. (The algae also travel between clams in pellets of feces.)
Modeling this system, the team calculated that its theoretical efficiency at the first step of photosynthesis, where chlorophyll absorbs a photon, is 43 percent—more than twice the efficiency of most current solar panels and three times that of a tropical leaf. Previous measurements in the wild suggested an even higher efficiency of over 60 percent. The new study resolved this discrepancy by considering that clams might inflate and deflate their mantles throughout the day to optimize sunlight exposure, bringing the modeled efficiency to 67 percent.
Sweeney hopes this work can inspire the design of algae-stocked bioreactors, demonstrating how biological solutions can address technological challenges.
Here is a video that shows some of these amazing clams. The best footage starts at 8:32.
