FFP EP. 13 | Portable Muon Beams, Sodium Batteries, and the Secret to Long Life скачать в хорошем качестве

FFP EP. 13 | Portable Muon Beams, Sodium Batteries, and the Secret to Long Life

Aloha internet — Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary are back with three brand-new research papers from the frontiers of physics, chemistry, and biology. From laser-driven muon beams small enough to fit in a lab, to sodium-ion batteries that could replace lithium, to naked mole rats redefining what aging means — this is From First Principles. Summary • Lawrence Berkeley’s new portable muon-beam generator and how it could revolutionize archaeology, volcanology, and even cargo inspection. • University of Chicago / UC San Diego’s breakthrough sodium-ion battery showing solid-state performance close to lithium, but at a fraction of the cost. • Tongji University’s naked-mole-rat study that reveals how four amino-acid changes could unlock radical DNA repair — and maybe longer human life. Chapters 00:00 Intro — three new research papers this week 01:21 Cold open — Dodgers & Nobel Week wrap 03:43 Story 1 — Portable muon beam (Berkeley Lab) 05:02 What is a muon? (Standard Model refresher) 08:54 Cosmic rays & muography basics 10:19 Alvarez in the 1960s — pyramids with muons 14:16 ScanPyramids 2015 — big void in Khufu 16:22 Limitation: cosmic-ray flux is too low 17:23 New paper: laser–plasma accelerator (LPA) muon source 18:20 Wakefield acceleration (the wakeboarding analogy) 21:35 From electron beam → gamma → muon–antimuon pairs 23:14 Pair production explained 24:30 Proving it’s a muon: 2.2 μs lifetime signature 27:28 From drizzle to firehose — 40× flux & why it matters 31:34 Real-time volcanology; national security; infrastructure 33:19 Cargo scanning & civil engineering use cases 36:08 Story 2 — Sodium-ion batteries vs. lithium 37:51 Battery 101 — anode/cathode/electrolyte 39:51 Why lithium won (so far) 41:29 Lithium’s upsides… and scarcity/geopolitics 43:27 Mining & brine costs (CO₂ and water use) 44:21 Why sodium — abundant and cheap 46:11 Sodium is bigger: graphite stress & cycle life issues 47:49 Lower energy density & sluggish ion transport 49:58 Perfect for grid storage and stationary use 50:52 New solid-state electrolyte (Joule paper) 52:13 Making a metastable phase (quenching) 54:25 “Paddle-wheel” superionic conduction 55:51 Works at low temperature (EVs in cold climates) 56:59 Prototype performance & cycle stats 59:45 Capital, geopolitics, and deployment paths 1:06:07 Sponsor — Standard Model Beverages 1:08:18 Story 3 — Naked mole rats & longevity 1:09:37 Two aging theories: programmed vs. damage/error 1:12:45 Telomeres; senescence & apoptosis 1:13:58 mTOR & rapamycin (nutrient sensing) 1:14:38 Sirtuins — genome “guardians” 1:15:59 Genomic instability & double-strand breaks 1:19:18 Meet the naked mole rat — extreme longevity 1:21:40 Disease resistance hints at a single master mechanism 1:23:28 cGAS pathway refresher (innate immunity) 1:28:01 Mole-rat cGAS behaves differently in the nucleus 1:29:20 The 4-amino-acid switch that boosts DNA repair 1:31:04 Therapeutic ideas: gene therapy & small molecules 1:34:04 Big picture on aging — error correction wins 1:34:23 Weekly wrap — three takeaways 1:35:32 Closing & credits Show Notes Nature News — Portable Muon Beam • https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158... Physical Review Accelerators and Beams Paper • https://journals.aps.org/prab/abstrac... Science Daily - Sodium Ion Batteries • https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases... Joule Paper • https://www.cell.com/joule/abstract/S... BBC Coverage - Naked Mole Rats & Longevity • https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7... Science Paper (2025) • https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...