It sounds like the ultimate clean energy dream: cover 1.2% of the Sahara Desert with solar panels, and you'd generate enough electricity to power the entire world. That’s 51+ billion panels across 335,000 km² of desert sun.

But beneath the vision lies a storm of challenges—dust, heat, climate disruption, and massive transmission losses. Plus, the logistics and cost are staggering. Experts now believe the real future is in decentralized solar networks, spread across the globe for resilience, independence, and efficiency.

Big dreams are good—but smarter, smaller ones might change the world faster.
Explore why the Sahara plan is powerful—but flawed —

#SolarPower #SaharaProject #CleanEnergy #RenewableEnergy #FutureOfPower

An international team of physicists led by Professor Enrique Gaztañaga of the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth has questioned the idea that the Universe began with the Big Bang.

This new theory challenges the traditional Big Bang model by proposing that our universe was born inside a black hole from a previous universe.

Published in Physical Review D, the model uses Einstein–Cartan theory, which includes quantum "torsion" to prevent singularities. Instead of a singular beginning, the universe undergoes a "bounce" inside the black hole, expanding outward to become a new cosmos.

This bounce naturally explains both the early rapid expansion (inflation) and the current accelerated expansion (dark energy), without needing exotic new particles or fields.

The model also predicts a slightly curved, closed universe—something future space missions like ESA’s ARRAKIHS or NASA’s SPHEREx may be able to detect.

One of the most compelling predictions is that our universe could carry the spin of the parent black hole, potentially explaining why two-thirds of galaxies seem to rotate in the same direction.

If confirmed by future observations, this cosmic spin could be a key signature supporting the theory.

In essence, this bold idea reimagines our universe not as the beginning of everything, but as part of a cosmic cycle, where each black hole could spawn a new universe—each with its own evolution.

At the edge of our solar system lies a turbulent boundary called the heliopause—the region where the solar wind (a stream of charged particles from the Sun) is stopped by the interstellar medium.

When NASA’s Voyager 1 crossed this boundary in 2012, and Voyager 2 followed in 2018, both spacecraft made a remarkable discovery: a region where the temperature of interstellar plasma spikes dramatically, reaching an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Kelvin.

This phenomenon has sometimes been described as encountering a “wall of fire” or a “50,000 Kelvin wall,” though these terms are metaphorical.

The high temperature doesn’t mean it’s a literal, fiery wall. Rather, it refers to the kinetic energy of the sparse plasma particles found beyond the heliopause.

Despite the extremely high temperatures, the density of particles in this region is extraordinarily low, meaning that the heat doesn’t transfer in a way that would damage spacecraft or feel "hot" by human standards.

The heating is likely due to magnetic reconnection—an energetic process where magnetic fields from the Sun and the interstellar medium interact and release energy, compressing and heating the plasma.

This "hot wall" marks the boundary where the Sun’s influence ends and true interstellar space begins.

Voyager’s instruments were able to detect this change using a combination of plasma wave sensors, cosmic ray detectors, and magnetometers.

These tools confirmed the change in environment—particularly noting an increase in cosmic ray activity and changes in magnetic field orientation—which further validated the spacecraft had entered a new domain of space.

In summary, while the phrase “50,000 Kelvin wall” sounds dramatic, it is scientifically grounded in real data from the Voyager missions.

It refers to a heated, ionized region just beyond the heliosphere, offering critical insights into how our solar system interacts with the larger galactic environment.

The finding not only helped define the solar system’s outermost limits but also provided invaluable clues about the nature of interstellar space.

Researchers at Ohio State University have discovered over 230 previously unknown giant viruses, often referred to as “giruses,” in seawater samples from oceans around the world.

These viruses are far larger and more complex than typical viruses, sometimes rivaling bacteria in size and genetic content.

Their genomes can span more than a million base pairs and include genes commonly found in cellular organisms—such as those for metabolism, photosynthesis, and even DNA repair—challenging our traditional definition of what a virus is.

These giant viruses primarily infect marine protists, such as algae and amoebae, playing a crucial role in ocean ecosystems.

By hijacking their hosts’ metabolic and reproductive systems, these viruses can influence major biological processes like carbon cycling and oxygen production.

This interaction has significant implications for climate regulation and nutrient flow, as marine microbes are at the foundation of the food web and account for a large portion of the Earth's oxygen production.

The study also suggests that these viruses may be important in controlling harmful algal blooms, which can devastate marine biodiversity and fisheries.

By better understanding how these viruses operate and interact with microbial life, scientists could develop new tools for monitoring and managing the health of ocean ecosystems.

This groundbreaking discovery reveals just how much of Earth’s microbial and viral diversity remains unexplored and emphasizes the ocean’s role as a critical reservoir of biological innovation.

A very costly vote indeed