A Seattle startup ran a three-week demonstration of a subsea geothermal plant at Axial Seamount about a mile beneath the Pacific surface, drilling two small wells with a subsea lander and deploying a 100-kW prototype named Adélie. The initial 52-foot, 2-inch test well yielded too little hydrothermal fluid, so the team hooked the plant to a nearby natural vent and briefly produced 60 watt-hours while the turbine spun to ~26,000 rpm. The system achieved net-positive power - producing more electricity than it consumed - for about 8.7 seconds, with a median net output around 2 kW and a peak of 16.5 kW, before a software-triggered safety shutdown and a seawater-caused cable short ended the run. The deployment used ROPOS for hookup and plugged into the Regional Cabled Array for power and comms.
The run demonstrates technical feasibility but highlights major obstacles: underwater wells must be deeper and far wider than the test bore to deliver reliable flow, subsea components and cables need ruggedization, and installation/operational costs will likely exceed onshore geothermal. The team is upgrading the design (renamed Gentoo), extending drill depth capability to ~260 feet, and building 2-MW commercial units intended for a multi-unit deployment in Tonga in 2027 to replace diesel imports. Independent environmental monitoring accompanied the test; broader markets could include Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Taiwan, and Japan if sustained, cost-competitive operation is proven.
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Mini brain organoids have been developed to read Braille, marking a significant step toward biohybrid computing. This advancement could lead to new interfaces combining biological and artificial systems for enhanced processing capabilities. (frontiersin.org)
GLP-1 drugs help most people lose significant weight, but 10-15% see little or no benefit. Scientists are investigating why some individuals do not respond to develop more personalized obesity treatments. (nature.com)
Earth is technically in an ice age because ice exists at both poles. Most of the time, however, there is no ice at the poles, indicating an interglacial period within the ice age. (twitter.com)
Researchers developed an automated system to identify and organize insect songs, especially orthopterans, from a year of continuous field recordings. They detected over 10 million singers and classified 45 song types, revealing how temperature influences song characteristics. (biorxiv.org)
A lost manuscript by physicist Erwin Schrödinger reveals that he believed in the existence of fundamental unpredictability in the universe, predating quantum mechanics. This challenges the common portrayal of Schrödinger as primarily a supporter of quantum randomness, suggesting he saw aspects of reality as inherently indeterminate. (sciencealert.com)
Ebola has spread from Congo to four other countries, raising concerns about its containment. Efforts to combat the outbreak include vaccine development and public health measures. (apnews.com)
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