STEM Saturday on the Steem blockchain, Week #56: Energy, space, and artificial intelligence

Please visit the /promoted page to view this week's STEM Saturday post promotions.

This was the 56^th week of our post promotions for STEM Saturday on the Steem blockchain, and our little community now occupies the top of the /promoted page for the 56^th consecutive Saturday. This week, I promoted three Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) posts by three authors.

If you are a STEM enthusiast, please consider following the authors that you'll find in this article and also consider joining our community. If you would like your own post to be considered for STEM Saturday post promotion, please see the guidelines at the end of this post.

This week's promotions included the following posts (in alphabetical order, by author). Each author has been set as a 5% beneficiary on this post. All posts were passed through at least three different online plagiarism checks and three different checks for AI detection.

As is apparent when we see a lightning storm, the air that surrounds us is filled with energy. The trick lies in harvesting it, since storms and lightning strikes are not amenable to precise predictions. A team of engineers from Umass have been tackling that problem. First, in 2020, they produced the Air-gen technology, which uses the bacterium, Geobacter sulfurreducens in order to harvest electricity from the air. And now, they have extended the capability to make use of "nearly any material. They accomplish this through the use of nanopores that are holes with a diameter of less than 100 nanometers. Because of the size of the holes, water is able to pass through, but not without colliding with the edges. Those little collisions create an electrical imbalance that can be harvested. In this manner, any area of atmosphere that contains moisture can be functionally equivalent to a battery.

Startup firm, Varda Space Industries has deployed its W-Series 1 satellite platform in low earth orbit for research of drug components. On its first flight, the orbiting facility conducted research into ritonavir, which is used for HIV and AIDS treatment. In future efforts, the firm proposes to reduce the cost of such experimentation through the use of small factories. The platform was launched into orbit on June 13, and it will return by parachute after more than a month of research.

In an effort to balance the risks and benefits of new artificial intelligence technologies, many countries are working on regulations and legislations to deal with emerging generative AI technologies like ChatGPT. A front-runner in this effort is the European Union's AI Act, which passed on Wednesday (June 14) as a draft law. This represents the first effort at a comprehensive set of regulations for the AI industry. In addition to legislation and regulations by nations/states, many companies are also imposing limits on the ways that their employees are permitted to utilize artificial intelligence technologies.

The Community

The Popular STEM community is intended to be a place for accessible STEM conversations (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). If you have an interest in STEM topics, please come join us!

About STEM Saturday

If members would like to have your own STEM content considered for future promotions, please come join us and start contributing. I don't know how long I'll be continuing the tradition, but while I do, here are the minimum requirements for consideration (subject to change without notice ;-).

1. Original, plagiarism-free content
2. Minimum word count: currently 300 words, but this may be adjusted.
3. The content must not be cross-posted on other web sites or blockchains. Correct use of the #steemexclusive tag is encouraged.
4. English language. (sorry, it's the only one I know)
5. Because a post leaves /promoted at payout time, posts created shortly before STEM Saturday may be more likely to be chosen than older posts.

All community members are invited to create original and exclusive content that can be considered for future promotions.

Please help grow the science & technology audience on the Steem blockchain by following the Science and Technology on the Social Blockchain Facebook page then liking & sharing our links!

Visit the /promoted page and #burnsteem25 to support the inflation-fighters who are helping to enable decentralized regulation of Steem token supply growth.)