Science, technology and technology news

Crystal structure of heterometallic complexes

A team of scientists from the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry. NS. Kurnakov RAS, together with their foreign colleagues, synthesized and investigated a series of new heterometallic coordination compounds containing lanthanide and two different transition metal ions. The resulting compounds can be used to create elements for ultra-dense information storage. The results are published in the leading international journal of inorganic chemistry, Dalton Transactions.

Heterometallic complexes are nano-sized molecular objects that contain ions of at least two metals. Their unusual properties are due to the presence of metal atoms of various natures in the molecule, due to which fundamentally new characteristics appear.

“For more than ten years, our laboratory has been developing on the production and use of heterometallic complexes in which lanthanide ions (a family of 15 rare-earth chemical elements) form the skeleton of the molecule, and transition metal atoms are part of the fragments connecting them,” says a senior researcher at the Laboratory of magnetic materials IGIC RAS, candidate of chemical sciences Pavel Koroteev. “In new experiments, we managed to synthesize unique complexes containing three different metals. The resulting substances combine in their structure the atoms of two transition metals – iron and chromium, and the atoms of rare earth elements – lanthanides or yttrium. Quite a few similar trimetallic complexes are known, and the number of trimetallic complexes containing an organometallic fragment is only a few. “

The study of the magnetic properties of the obtained complexes, carried out at the Center for Research. Paul Pascal from the University of Bordeaux (France), together with the group of the outstanding magnetochemist Rodolphe Klerac, made it possible to establish that the complexes containing terbium, dysprosium, and holmium are molecular magnets. Such compounds are of interest as a means of ultradense storage of information, since they can potentially store one bit of information in each molecule, which increases the density of its recording on storage devices, therefore, can lead to their significant miniaturization.

This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (project 075-15-2020-779).

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Odyssey towards the Trojans

The decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court to ban the sale and import of more than 60 models of Samsung smartphones into Russia will not greatly affect their sales. This was reported to RBC in the press service of the telecommunications company “Beeline”.

“The decision to ban the sale of some models of Samsung smartphones in Russia has not yet entered into force. Retail stores “Beeline” are operating normally, there are no changes in the nomenclature of devices sold at the moment, “the company added, commenting on the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court.

On October 21, the Moscow Arbitration Court adopted the ban on the import and sale of 61 models of Samsung smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip with a flexible screen and the “flagship” Samsung Galaxy S21, in Russia. This happened due to a dispute over an invention under patent No. 2686003, the author of which is Viktor Gulchenko.

Earlier, the Swiss company “Squin SA”, within the framework of this patent, filed a lawsuit against Samsung, stating that it was illegally using the patent “System of electronic payments” in Russia. It describes “a method for conducting an online payment using a customer's mobile device and a merchant's cash register system, which are wirelessly linked by any known standards and protocols.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) is ready to continue the preliminary evaluation of the Sputnik V vaccine and is awaiting full data for analysis. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the press service of the organization.

“The World Health Organization welcomes the signing by RDIF of all legal agreements that are required to be evaluated for listing for emergency use. We expect to receive complete data for analysis and to continue the assessment process, ”the press service said.

Export of Russian vaccines exceeded $ 700 million

On the eve of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) in the Twitter account of “Sputnik V” announced the entry of the preliminary assessment of the drug into the final stage. The RDIF also said that a group of WHO inspectors will visit Russia in the near future to carry out the necessary inspections and draw up documents.

The head of RDIF, Kirill Dmitriev, said that the fund expects the vaccine to be approved by the World Health Organization in the next couple of months.

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The second power unit of the Rostov NPP is indeed disconnected from the network, but there was no steam leak, a representative of the nuclear power plant told KP-Rostov on Thursday, October 21, commenting on information about the incident that appeared in the media.

According to him, the shutdown is due to the need for repair work. What kind of malfunction needs to be eliminated was not specified at the Rostov NPP.

As the website kp.ru wrote earlier, command post exercises were held on the territory of the Rostov NPP the day before. They were attended by 150 people and 12 units of special vehicles. No interventions in the operation of the nuclear power plant related to the training were envisaged or carried out, the organizers of the exercises assured.

As a reminder, power unit No. 1 at the nuclear power plant has been under scheduled maintenance since September 18.

The Rostov nuclear power plant is located 16 km from the city of Volgodonsk in the Rostov region on the bank of the Tsimlyansk reservoir.

Apple fans have already criticized the design of the new MacBook Pro, which the company presented at a recent presentation. But it turned out that the new computers still will not have an important function that, as they hoped, Apple will transfer from iPhones along with the “bangs”.

While the bangs were used on iPhones to house a TrueDepth camera system that supports Face ID – face-scan unlocking – the new MacBook Pro has a built-in spot projector, light and infrared camera that creates a 3D face map.

Patentlyapple told New York Times tech columnist David Pogue on Twitter that the bang contains a new 1080p camera, a TrueTone sensor that maintains color consistency during shooting in any light, an ambient light sensor that adjusts the keyboard backlight, and an LED “Included camera”. All of these components were previously “hidden” by the bezel, but are now visible as the bezel was cropped to increase the screen real estate.

As you evaluate your opinion on the MacBook Pro's notch, keep in mind that it houses more than just a 1080p camera. It also houses the TrueTone sensor (colors consistent in all lighting conditions), light sensor (adjusts brightness / keyboard illumination), and “camera on” LED. pic.twitter.com/XpKvhvtEWn

– David Pogue (@Pogue) October 19, 2021

Commenting on the bewilderment of many users that the “bangs” should have included Face ID, Pog wrote that, in his opinion, the vendor planned to install a face scanning system there, but due to the global crisis with the supply of semiconductors, the company had to abandon this function. at the last moment.

At the same time, he explained to users that in order to install this technology, Apple would have to expand the “bangs” to accommodate Face ID modules, and this could become too much of a distraction.

The source also says that the Touch ID technology built into the MacBook Pro should be enough for most users. If only because on MacBooks, face unlocking would be more of a bonus than a necessity – it is useless at night or in dark rooms, so Touch ID is better in every way.

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It is no longer a secret that the official launch date for Intel Alder Lake processors and one of the most anticipated Z690 motherboards is November 4th. But RAM manufacturers have already started selling devices with support for DDR5 technology.

According to the Videocardz portal, some brands have been selling DDR5 memory for three months before the official premiere of Alder Lake processors, Z690 motherboards and the Intel 600 series in general. Insiders talked a little about what these RAMs are.

According to the source, the first memory to go on sale has a standard JEDEC speed of 4800 MT / s, and this is the low end of the performance that the upcoming Intel Z690 motherboards will support. It is emphasized that faster memory will be used for Alder Lake processors, for example, 6200 MT / s and higher, which will further increase the price of the kit. But no one names specific prices.

Apparently, the prices are not named because they will “jump” more than once, and the Russian buyer will be able to purchase such a memory at a completely different price than it costs now.

However, laptop and motherboard maker MSI has already announced that DDR5 memory will be 50-60% more expensive than DDR4 kits at launch. And it takes at least two years for prices to equalize. “Historically, new memory technology has always required an almost 30-40% premium over the previous generation. This time, however, DDR5 includes additional components that have increased the cost even further. As a result, we expect a 50-60% price premium over DDR4 at launch. It usually takes about 2 years to reach price parity with previous generations, and we expect the same trend to continue with DDR5 modules, ”said MSI spokeswoman Sara Lin.

The source also notes that the Intel Z690 series will include support for both standards, but DDR4 and DDR5 motherboards will be sold as separate models. Before upgrading, buyers must decide what kind of memory technology they need. However, only independent reviews will answer the question of whether it is really worth overpaying just to have the latest technology on the market.

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Embankment of the Smolenka River in stormy weather.

In St. Petersburg, on the night of Friday, October 22, the shutters of the dam will be closed.

It is expected that the water level at the mouth of the Neva River will rise above critical values.

According to the press service of the Directorate of the Complex of Protective Structures (KZS), work will begin at midnight, the closing time of the complex is 02:00 am Moscow time. …

The Directorate reminded that on Thursday and Friday a sharp drop in atmospheric pressure and an increase in the south-west wind up to 25-28 m / s are expected, which will lead to “a change in the hydrological situation.”

Earlier today, on October 21, the head of the St. Petersburg Hydrometeorological Center, Alexander Kolesov, warned that on Friday, October 22, the wind will sharply increase in the Northern capital. The threat of flooding is great, the meteorologist noted. The water level can rise up to two meters.

“Stormy weather will last until the early night of October 23. In the rear of the cyclone, the wind will change to north-west, north, and a cold snap will begin,” added the head of the city's Hydrometeorological Center.

Bad weather hit St. Petersburg on October 20. It was raining all day in the city on the Neva, and it was also very windy. Due to the flood, one of the lobbies of the Ploschad Vosstaniya station had to be closed. On Thursday in St. Petersburg, thermometers show +13 (this is 6 degrees above normal).

Russian cosmonauts are preparing to land on the moon. The corresponding video is published by the TV channel “360”. In the footage, Alexander Misurkin is practicing exiting the lander, moving along the surface, as well as working with a hand tool.

In order for the process to take place in conditions as close as possible to the lunar, gravity was artificially created, like on a satellite of the Earth.

“Another pre-flight study that Alexander Misurkin went through is related to helicopter control. As part of the Sozvezdie – LM-21/22 experiment, the CTC specialists began to develop technologies for a promising manned landing of cosmonauts on the Moon using a helicopter as a dynamic simulator. The VC-20 crew commander has worked out the descent and landing skills, and on the eve of the expedition to the ISS took part in a pre-flight study, ”the state corporation Roscosmos said in a statement.

Russia became aware of the beginning of preparations for landing a man on the moon in September of this year. Roscosmos has announced a tender for 1.7 billion rubles.

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Even budget new computers and laptops now have an SSD as a system drive. No wonder: such a drive works much faster than conventional HDDs, and it makes sense to put it, if not as the main storage of information, but at least in the role of a system disk. And high speed is what the user needs. But SSDs can be of different formats, sizes, with different interfaces – how to figure it all out?

What is the best form factor?

SSDs come in four form factors: M.2 (NVMe), 2.5-inch (SATA), U.2 (NVMe), and PCI-e expansion module (NVMe). Let's briefly talk about each of them in order to form at least a superficial impression of what to choose from.

Let's start with the most advanced consumer M.2 solutions.

M.2 Solid State Drives : These SSDs, which are shaped like slats of RAM, have already become the standard for ultra-thin laptops. They are also supported by desktop PC boards.

Most M.2 drives are made in standard sizes 22×80 cm, but sometimes they are shorter or, on the contrary, longer (it is not difficult to determine by markings in the names of drives – 2280, 2260, 22110 …).

But the most interesting thing is different: some boards offer two or more M.2 connectors, which will allow you to organize a RAID array from fast SSDs, adding even more performance to your computer when manipulating data. In particular, if we take two flagship drives from the main memory manufacturers and combine them into a zero level RAID, then instead of the previously announced read and write speeds of up to 6.6 GB / s and 5.0 GB / s, we will get a doubling to 13.2 GB / s and 10 Gb / s.

2.5-inch SATA SSD : Still a common storage type that mimics the shape of traditional hard drives of a similar form factor and uses a similar interface, SATA 3.0, for connection.

To install them in your laptop or system unit, there must be a direct SATA connector and a place for such a drive (in the case of a PC, you can use a 2.5-inch adapter for installation in 3.5-inch baskets designed for large HDDs).

PCI-e SSD Expansion Modules : These drives are potentially faster because they operate on the PCI Express bus, not SATA, which was developed over a decade ago for connecting HDDs. Such devices are connected to the connectors on the motherboard, where video cards are usually installed, and the more PCI-e lanes an SSD can use, the faster its speed will be. The only caveat: they can only be installed on a desktop PC.

U.2 SSDs : These solutions are visually similar to SATA drives as they come in a 2.5-inch form factor. However, they use the PCI Express interface to connect to a PC. Typically, these solutions offer more capacity and are used in server solutions that can benefit from this form factor: at the very least, it requires less upgrade costs with a multiple increase in speed.

Which interface to choose: SATA or PCI-e?

2.5-inch SSDs use the SATA interface that was developed for HDDs in 2000. M.2 drives work with a faster PCI Express interface that offers more bandwidth. But it's that simple. M.2 SSDs can run either over SATA or PCI-e, depending on the drive. And then there is the NVMe specification designed for today's fast solid state solutions. The tricky part is that M.2 drives can be SATA-based, PCI-e-based without NVMe support, or PCI-e-based with NVMe support. The choice is made easier by the fact that most of the fast M.2 SSDs released in recent years support the NVMe protocol.

So, if your day-to-day tasks include surfing the web and running simple office applications, most NVMe SSDs won't be noticeably faster than less expensive SATA models.

For those who use resource-intensive software for editing photos, transcoding video materials, compressing data, unpacking archives, as well as copying and writing large files, it is more logical to choose an NVMe solution, since in the scenarios mentioned they will work 5 times faster than a SATA SSD.

Most manufacturers of solid-state solutions (such as Micron, Intel, Samsung, etc.) are gradually starting to reduce the production of SATA SSDs, which is associated with the growing popularity and cheaper prices of more compact and faster NVMe devices. And here's something else to pay attention to: NVMe PCIe 3.0 devices were previously considered the fastest SSDs, but with the advent of the new PCIe 4.0 system standard, even more powerful solid-state drives have appeared that take full advantage of the capabilities of the advanced data transfer protocol. True, if we talk about upgrading existing assemblies or laptops, not every motherboard has an M.2 connector.

And if there is M.2, but the board only supports PCIe 3.0, is it worth buying an SSD with PCIe 4.0? Definitely yes. Due to backward compatibility, it will work on your PC, but with a larger upgrade or changing your computer to a more modern one, you will no longer have to buy a new drive.

As for ultrabooks, they mostly support M.2 drives, since traditional 2.5-inch SATA drives simply do not fit into them. Keep in mind that some manufacturers solder the drive directly onto the laptop's motherboard, which prevents storage upgrades. Therefore, before purchasing the same laptop, it is better to consult with the seller about the possibility of replacing components.

Capacity: which one to choose?

Alas, SSDs are still quite expensive, and the issue of capacity depends mainly on the budget. For example, a 1 TB drive is suitable as a universal option. This is enough for both system needs and information storage. For example, the Crucial P5 Plus with impressive speeds of 6,600 MB / s read and 5,000 MB / s write will cost about 17,000 rubles.

If your budget is not ready for such an expense, you can take half the amount. The price will also be almost 2 times less: already 9,000 instead of 17,000. SATA solutions are even cheaper: a drive from the same manufacturer of the same volume costs about 5,000 rubles. But the speed, as we have already noted, is much less.

SSD and power consumption: how important is it?

You've probably heard more than once that SSDs are less power hungry because they have no moving parts like traditional platter hard drives. At the same time, desktop owners looking to maximize performance are unlikely to rate power consumption as a significant issue.

This characteristic is really important for ultrabook owners, as it directly affects the final autonomy of a compact computer. Some SSDs can draw in excess of 1 Watt in standby mode, while more efficient SSDs can only draw milliwatts. In addition, in addition to information about the average power consumption, such a characteristic as performance per watt is important, which makes it possible to assess the “gluttony” of the drive under load. If battery life is a key factor when buying a drive, be sure to check the power benchmarks of your chosen device so you know what to count on and make the right decision.

What controller should your SSD have?

Essentially, your drive's controller is like the central processing unit of your computer. It is responsible for the distribution of read / write operations and other tasks to ensure the performance and maintenance of the drive. You can delve into the detailed characteristics of the controllers, but for most users it is enough to know the following: as is the case with your PC's CPU, the more cores a controller has, the better for high-performance SSDs with large capacities (from 1 TB or more).

And what about the service life?

Most shoppers don't need to dive into the jungle of memory types and MTBFs. To put it simply, all flash memory has a limited lifespan. This means that after a memory cell (and there are a lot of them on one memory chip) is written a certain number of times, it will stop storing data. Typically, SSD manufacturers indicate the rated longevity of their products in terms of Terabytes Written (TBW) or Writes Per Day (DWPD). For example, for the Crucial P5 Plus, that's 600 TB with a five-year device warranty. Imagine: if you record 1 GB of information every day, in 5 years you use less than 2 TB, and the resource is 600.

At the same time, it should be understood that on such high-capacity drives, taking into account their cost, a kind of “backup technology” is implemented. That is, when, after a few years, the memory cells begin to become unusable, the SSD will begin to move data from the worn-out cells to newer ones, thereby significantly extending its service life.

And one more thing: if an SSD is not overwritten in 24/7 mode, its life can reach 7-10 years. The conclusion seems to be obvious: the less actively the “disk” is used, the longer the duration of its “life”. This means that the 5-year warranty does not mean at all that the drive will completely wear out after a couple of months after the specified period has been exceeded.

Summing it up …

The best choice for today is an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD. Even if your computer only has PCIe 3.0, it is worth buying just such an SSD. If there is no M.2 either, you will have to settle for a SATA SSD: if you switch to it from a regular HDD, the difference will still be impressive. As for the volume, it makes sense to take at least 256 GB: such solutions are not very expensive today. If you want to use the drive not only as a system drive, but also for storing information, take options from 500 GB.

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The Gamaleya Center named the Sputnik Light efficiency level against the delta

Scientists from the Gamaleya Research Center for Electrochemistry have published the results of a study on the effectiveness of a single-component vaccine “Sputnik Light” against the delta strain of coronavirus in Moscow, according to the website medRxiv.org.

The study used data from Moscow vaccination registers and statistics on the incidence of COVID. The evaluation criteria were the proportion of cases of coronavirus among those vaccinated with a single dose and the number of infections among those who were not vaccinated.

The overall efficacy for all adults over 18 years of age was 69.8%. “These numbers indicate that Sputnik Light is even more effective against the delta strain than many dual-dose vaccines,” the article says.

Earlier it was reported that new records were recorded in Russia for the number of infections and deaths from coronavirus.