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China has finished construction on an experimental thorium reactor that could greatly expand the number of people who can benefit from clean nuclear energy.

Fission basics: Nuclear power plants split atoms of fuel through a process called “fission.” This produces energy that can then be converted into electricity.

Nuclear power is more reliable than wind and solar, and the fission process doesn’t produce any climate-harming carbon emissions, making nuclear energy a potentially key weapon in the battle against climate change.

The challenge: Today, there are more than 400 nuclear power plants in operation across the globe, and the vast majority use uranium as a fuel and water to cool and moderate the fission process — but there are downsides to the status quo.

While uranium is about as common as tin, less than 1% of mined uranium is a specific kind that can undergo fission (uranium-235) — a process called “enrichment” is needed to increase uranium-235 levels in the mined metal, and it’s both complicated and expensive.??

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Groundbreaking research from Australian scientists has revealed a likely cause of Alzheimer’s disease, the devastating condition that affects 5.8 million Americans. Using mouse models, the researchers built upon previous knowledge of beta-amyloid protein, already known to play a role in Alzheimer’s. They discovered how this toxic protein leaks through the blood-brain barrier to causes degenerative damage to brain cells.

According to Medical News Today, the findings have been called a “breakthrough,” and could lead to preventive strategies to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease or slow its progression.

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Follow the science! Until it changes … as it ALWAYS does.

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If it works.

These conceptual projects are fun to look but nobody ever builds them.

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Texas’ Land Commissioner George P. Bush, the grandson of former president George H. W. Bush, announced on Monday that the state’s General Land Office (GLO) had reached an agreement with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to build Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s border wall.

A release announcing the agreement said construction of the wall would begin in Starr County, an area that sits along a portion of the border near the southern tip of Texas. The land being utilized for this portion of the wall is a farm tract owned by the GLO, the release said.