They’re incredibly uncommon, yet not vanishingly rare. People are known to travel great distances to see them. Airlines offer ‘path of totality’ flights. And there’s nothing in the solar system that comes close to their inexpressible wonder.

A total solar eclipse is a magical celestial event that occurs when the moon moves between Earth and the sun. Though the sun is 400 times the diameter of the moon, it’s also, quite providentially, 400 times further away, so from Earth’s vantage point, our moon, when the timing and positioning is just right, will fully block the sun, instantly turning day to night, and – for a short time – delivering the awe-inspiring spectacle of a black disc suspended in a dusky sky, enrobed by a blazing ring of light.

Americans have been incredibly fortunate with recent eclipses, having just witnessed one that spanned the majority of the country, following closely behind the notable “Great American Eclipse” of 2017, tracing from Oregon to South Carolina. However, such occurrences are not at all common and won’t repeat anywhere in the U.S. until the 2040s (August 22, 2044, to be precise.)

UPCOMING TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES

Here in Malaysia, it will be a much longer wait. Kuala Lumpur will see its next total solar eclipse on July 5, 2148. (There is a total lunar eclipse next year, September 7, 2025, though that event is orders of magnitude less impressive.)

The world’s next total solar eclipse, however, will take place on August 13, 2026. This eclipse will be Spain’s event, with the path of totality sweeping across the north of the country.

For those in the region, unquestionably the next best chance to see a total solar eclipse will be on July 22, 2028. Mark your calendars for this one, because the very centre of the path of totality will envelop Sydney, plunging Australia’s largest city into daylight darkness for nearly four minutes, before racing southeast towards New Zealand, where the South Island towns of Queenstown, Milton, Dunedin, and others will see totality lasting for almost three minutes. Popular travel spot Milford Sound will also enjoy the total eclipse.

South Australia, meanwhile, will get its own chance in November 2030, as another total solar eclipse will sweep just north of Adelaide, giving enthusiasts there up to two minutes of totality.

ECLIPSES RESULT FROM A WONDERFUL COINCIDENCE

According to Dr. John Mulchaey, deputy for science at the Carnegie Institution for Science and director of the Carnegie Observatories, an eclipse typically transpires in the same location every 375 years. Presently, we’re living in an era that offers a unique opportunity to behold the spectacle of a total solar eclipse on Earth.

While eclipses do happen elsewhere in the solar system, none match the distinctive character of those observed from our vantage point. The moon’s proximity to Earth, approximately 400 times nearer than the sun, results in a “beautiful coincidence” when the three celestial bodies align, known as syzygy.

As the moon covers the sun, the change on Earth in the path of totality happens with astonishing speed. In the very moment the disc of the moon slides completely into place and fully obscures the sun, the sky almost instantly takes on an eerie dusk-like quality. The temperature drops quickly, animals react, any observing humans either cheer or fall into silent awe of the spectacle, and in the sky, the fiery corona of the sun can be streaming out from the shadowy black orb of the moon. There is nothing on Earth like a total solar eclipse.

Humans today are fortunate in that they are living in the “right time” for such an incredible celestial event. In ancient times, when the moon was closer to Earth, the totality phenomenon likely differed from what we see today. Conversely, in the far, far distant future, the moon will retreat so far away that it will no longer obscure the sun, making this a fleeting moment in cosmic history, as noted by Mulchaey.

AN EXPERIENCE LIKE NO OTHER

To enjoy the emotional moments recorded by NBC News as eclipse observers experienced totality, watch the video below:

The post The Greatest Show on Earth: Millions Across North America Treated to Total Solar Eclipse appeared first on ExpatGo.

Untold millions of people around the world start their day with a cup (or three) of coffee, and plenty more continue drinking it on into the afternoon or evening. Coffee is one of humanity’s most enduring, popular beverages. But we’ve long grappled with one question: What do we do with all those leftover used coffee grounds?

You can find dozens, if not hundreds, of websites with all sorts of clever uses for spent coffee grounds, from making facial scrubs to using as part of a dry rub for your next steak. Sprinkle it on plants? Maybe. Make scrubbing pastes with it? Definitely. Use it to absorb odors? Okay.

But these are all minor dents in the literal billions of tons of used coffee grounds that people generate every year.

Now, some groundbreaking new research is generating some real excitement about a much larger-scale use for this organic waste.

According to research published in the Journal of Cleaner Production and reported on by Science Alert, the construction industry may well be the place to put used coffee grounds to good use – and the environment would reap the benefits in two distinct ways.

SOME COFFEE WITH YOUR BUILDING, SIR?

Researchers in Australia have found a way to potentially make concrete an impressive 30 percent stronger by incorporating charred coffee grounds into the mix, addressing multiple environmental challenges in the process.

Every year, a staggering 10 billion kilograms of coffee waste are generated worldwide, with most of that ending up in landfills. This disposal of organic waste contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, including methane and carbon dioxide, which fuel climate change, explains RMIT University engineer Rajeev Roychand.

Simultaneously, the booming global construction industry places enormous demand on resource-intensive concrete, exacerbating environmental issues. RMIT engineer Jie Li notes, “The ongoing extraction of natural sand around the world – typically taken from river beds and banks – to meet the rapidly growing demands of the construction industry has a big impact on the environment. There are critical and long-lasting challenges in maintaining a sustainable supply of sand due to the finite nature of resources and the environmental impacts of sand mining. With a circular-economy approach, we could keep organic waste out of landfills and also better preserve our natural resources like sand.”

While organic waste like coffee grounds can’t be directly added to concrete due to their inherent chemical properties weakening the material, the team adopted a low-energy process called pyrolysis. They heated coffee waste to over 350°C (around 660°F) in an oxygen-deprived environment, breaking down the organic molecules to produce porous, carbon-rich charcoal known as biochar. Biochar can subsequently bond with and integrate itself into the cement matrix, adding strength.

The researchers experimented with pyrolyzing coffee grounds at 500°C, but found that the resulting biochar particles were not as strong. The lower temperature seems to be the sweet spot.

EARLY STAGES, BUT HOPES ARE HIGH

Although they still need to assess the long-term durability of their cement product, the team is actively conducting tests involving freeze/thaw cycles, water absorption, abrasion, and various stressors on the hybrid coffee-cement. They’re also exploring the creation of biochar from other organic waste sources, including wood, food waste, and agricultural waste.

RMIT engineer Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch emphasizes, “Our research is in the early stages, but these exciting findings offer an innovative way to greatly reduce the amount of organic waste that goes to landfill. Inspiration for my research, from an Indigenous perspective, involves Caring for Country, ensuring there’s a sustainable life cycle for all materials and avoiding things going into landfill to minimize the impact on the environment.”

Earlier studies by different research teams had also found used coffee grounds could be manipulated for use in non-load-bearing structures and walls.

In that study, researchers explored the potential of a bio-based composite made from potato starch and spent coffee grounds for use in non-load-bearing construction. They investigated its mechanical, thermal insulation, and sound absorption properties, aiming to provide an environmentally friendly alternative for building materials.

The study found that when 60% of the weight of coffee grounds was added to starch, the material exhibited promising thermal insulation characteristics, with a low thermal conductivity of 0.093 W/(mK), indicating that the material would be quite desirable for materials used in buildings, as it would help keep the indoor temperature stable by resisting the flow of heat from warmer areas to cooler ones.

Acoustic testing also revealed that the composite had good sound absorption qualities, making it suitable for the construction industry. Notably, the starch-coffee grounds composite outperformed traditional rock wool in terms of weighted absorption coefficient.

Furthermore, the researchers emphasized the potential of this bio-composite as a sustainable replacement for mineral or petroleum-based building materials, aligning with environmental conservation efforts. However, further research is needed to assess its performance in different climates, such as the humid continental climate of northern France and the tropical climate of Brazil, under varying humidity conditions.

This study paves the way for the development of eco-friendly building materials using recycled coffee grounds and starch-based binders, and now new studies showing a 30% stronger hybrid coffee grounds-concrete product, you may one day live or work in a building made –at least partially – from old coffee grounds!

So we’ve got interior walls that handle thermal transfer and sound insulation better, and stronger load-bearing concrete for our buildings, bridges, and more, along with an environmentally friendly sustainable way to get rid of used coffee grounds? That’s a win-win scenario that will have us reaching for a second cup!

The post Could Your Coffee Habit Make the World’s Construction Industry Better? Scientists Say Yes appeared first on ExpatGo.

“There is a renaissance in the art scene where artists who are ready to embrace digitisation and showcase their art works online are earning more than they ever have,” said nftapir.com co-founder Zang Tan.

By adopting a simplified approach to curate a quick and easy entry process into the booming crypto interaction, NFTapir offers Malaysia’s art community a gateway into a marketplace beyond what local circles can offer. And with the ‘PHYGITAL’ framework, this NFT platform becomes the first in Malaysia to provide physical art support into becoming listed as an NFT.

“We are excited to empower local artists on their journey into the metaverse and our goal is to decomplex the NFT journey thus allowing both artists and collectors to trade art with minimal prerequisite knowledge of blockchain technology. This further creates new opportunities for artists to continue to display their art digitally regardless of movement restrictions that have kept artists and collectors from physically trading at galleries throughout the pandemic,” Zang Tan added.

Apart from the ‘PHYGITAL’ traditional-to-NFT conversion aid, the NFTapir platform also prides in being unique to the NFT art community for several other reasons.

• Only curated artists will be able to mint their work, and enjoy a true-gas-free* experience, instead of “lazy minting” accounts.
• NFTapir will sponsor an artist showcasing their work to enjoy a gas-free access.
• Artists will have more control and authority over own NFTs, ensuring proper registry of work and therefore protecting value and record of ownership of art piece.
• Stablecoin tokens utilized for better preservation of art value in light of market votality.

With a little introduction to NFT jargon, here is some help with the terminology!

*gas – the computing effort that goes into creating and selling the NFT. Like gas for a physical car, the actions required to perform the transaction needs resources to function. A gas fee would be the total amount that goes into an NFT transaction.

**stablecoin – a cryptocurrency tied to another commodity. Unlike the Bitcoin (BTC), which tends to suffer from a volatile exchange rate and therefore making it less than suitable for routine purchasing systems, stablecoin maintains collateral via algorithmic formulas used in supply control.

The NFTapir platform is developed on a Polygon Blockchain, curated from the feedback gathered from the Malaysian art community. Already putting both artists and collectors first, market volatility can thus be better monitored by those involved, and providing a near-zero gas fee experience simultaneously.

“Through NFTapir, artists can mint a digital copy of their pieces on the site, and buyers can purchase its NFT. It also celebrating the vision of PHYGITAL, which enables contemporary artists, in particular, to enjoy the benefits and utilities of NFTs, tapping into widened market access as well as better preservation of value and record of ownership. Artists who mint NFT artworks with PHYGITAL can fulfil delivery of the accompanying physical artwork at the collector’s request.” – nftapir.com

The post NFTapir’s PHYGITAL Movement Bridges Physical and Meta appeared first on ExpatGo.

Dutch researchers have discovered, for the first time ever, that microplastics now exist in the human bloodstream in a study recently published in Environment International.

This brand-new discovery has experts worried and raising questions over the presence of microscopic foreign material in the bloodstream, and can it affect the body’s organs?

NO ESCAPE FROM MICROPLASTICS

Microplastics are minuscule plastic particles that usually measure less than five millimetres across after being broken down from larger items. Did you know, when opening or closing a plastic bottle, we’re actually releasing tiny bits of plastic into the air? Just the act of walking around in clothes with plastic properties in them spreads microplastics into your surroundings.

The study, which included 22 healthy volunteers, showed that nearly 80 percent of the participants had microplastics in their blood. Half of the blood samples taken showed the presence of PET plastic, which is normally used to make plastic bottles, while more than one-third of the participants had traces of polystyrene – a material normally used for food packaging.

According to Dick Vethaak, an ecotoxicologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, this is the first time that scientists have been able to detect and quantify microplastics in human blood.

“This is proof that we have plastics in our body—and we shouldn’t,” Vethaak told AFP, raising concerns about the potential effects of microplastics on the human body.

“Where is it going in your body? Can it be eliminated? Excreted? Or is it retained in certain organs, accumulating maybe, or is it even able to pass the blood-brain barrier?”

The researchers posit that microplastics could have multiple routes of entry into our bodies, including but not limited to the air we breathe, the water or food we consume, as well as other everyday products that we may use, like toothpaste, lip gloss, and even tattoo ink.

Vethaak also thinks there might be other types of microplastics – perhaps larger ones – that they can’t detect, since it all depends on the diameter of the needle they use. So if there were bigger particles in the blood, the researchers would not have been able to retrieve them via syringe anyway.

Though there’s more research that needs to be done, the researchers think it’s also quite plausible for tiny plastic particles to be transported to our organs via the bloodstream.

IS ONE STUDY ENOUGH PROOF?

According to Alice Horton, anthropogenic contaminants scientist at Britain’s National Oceanography Center, the study provides more than enough proof that there are microplastics flowing in our blood.

“This study contributes to the evidence that plastic particles have not just pervaded throughout the environment, but are pervading our bodies too,” she said.

Other experts, like Fay Couceiro at the University of Portsmouth, believe the study’s small sample size shouldn’t deter people from the facts – saying the findings are robust enough to withstand any sort of scrutiny.

The post A Scientific First: Microplastics Now Found in Human Blood appeared first on ExpatGo.

If you saw the classic 2004 superhero film Spider-Man 2, you’ll no doubt remember the iconic line from Alfred Molina’s Dr Otto Octavius as he (briefly) creates and sustains a controlled nuclear fusion reaction: “The power of the sun in the palm of my hand.”

Naturally, things go horribly awry, and the scientist’s dreams of abundant, clean energy are seriously dashed, but mixed in with all the fiction was a healthy bit of science, too – and Doc Ock was definitely on to something.

THE HOLY GRAIL OF POWER PRODUCTION

Nuclear fusion has for decades been viewed as a near-limitless source of clean energy. The reaction – fusing the nuclei of two or more elements into one nucleus – liberates staggering levels of energy with very little in the way of undesirable byproducts.

Fusion is the process (called stellar nucleosynthesis) by which stars, including our own Sun, convert hydrogen to helium, with incredible amounts of heat and light energy generated as a result. In fact, our Sun creates as much energy in a single second as everyone on Earth is able to consume in a year!

Fusion also requires comparatively little fuel, and what it needs for our use as a power source is abundant and naturally sourced – it can even be extracted from seawater. The fusion process is also relatively carbon-neutral, making it all the more appealing as an alternative to fossil fuels.

Little wonder, then, that fusion is widely considered the holy grail of energy. It’s the flip side of nuclear fission, a process that scientists figured out in the 1940s. That reaction splits atoms and though it also releases enormous energy, it comes with terrible consequences and leaves behind waste that can remain toxic and radioactive for thousands of years.

Fusion, on the other hand, is comparatively benign, but as it’s basically akin to building a tiny star here on Earth, it’s proven much, much harder to create and control. (For a primer on fusion power, click here, but suffice it to say that it’s incredibly complicated.)

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

On Wednesday, February 9, scientists working in the village of Cullham, near Oxford in the United Kingdom, announced that they had successfully more than doubled the previous record length of time for generating and sustaining nuclear fusion.

Two significant things Spider-Man 2 got right with the film’s fusion generator included its fuel source and the containment required. Tritium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen, is used exclusively to fuel the reaction in the movie, and in real life, it’s one of two elements used, as well. (Most commonly, a deuterium-tritium fuel is used, as naturally occurring tritium is very rare on Earth, something else the movie gets right. However, tritium can be artificially produced.)

The other major point the movie accurately depicted was the challenge of containing the reaction. The heat generated by a fusion reaction is far, far in excess of what any element on Earth can withstand – an incomprehensible 150 million degrees Celsius, about 10 times hotter than the Sun’s centre – and so an incredibly strong magnetic field is required to contain the reaction.

The reactor used is called a tokamak, an English transliteration of a Russian acronym coined in 1957 (derived from тороидальная камера с магнитными катушками), meaning a toroidal chamber with a magnetic field. The chamber is a huge, donut-shaped machine that both generates and contains the reaction.

The breakthrough reaction just announced, which actually took place on December 21 last year in the Joint European Torus (JET), is significant because it lasted five seconds, more than twice the length of time of previous efforts. It may not seem like much, but in that short burst, the reaction released some 59 megajoules of energy. (Scientists note that it would have lasted longer, but five seconds is the maximum time before the reactor’s magnets overheat.)

RECORD-BREAKING EXPERIMENT FUELS EXCITEMENT

The experiment’s success has bolstered optimism that finally cracking the elusive nut of sustainable nuclear fusion is something that is likely to happen in the 21st century.

“Our experiment showed for the first time that it’s possible to have a sustained fusion process using exactly the same fuel mix planned for future fusion power plants,” Tony Donné, CEO of EUROfusion, said at a press conference.

EUROfusion, a consortium comprising 4,800 experts, students, and staff from across Europe, conducted the experiment in partnership with the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

The fuel mix Donné referenced is the aforementioned deuterium-tritium blend, which is likely to be used in the commercial-scale fusion power plants of the future, and is the source of enormous amounts of energy.

“The energy you can get out of the fuel deuterium and tritium is massive,” explained Tony Roulstone from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “For example, powering the whole of the current UK electrical demand for a day would require 0.5 tonnes of deuterium, which could be extracted from seawater, where its concentration is low but plentiful.”

The notion of just half a tonne of material providing enough energy for all of the United Kingdom for a day might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but that’s the great potential and promise of fusion power.

For comparison, it would take five million kilograms of coal to generate the same energy as just 500 kilograms of fusion fuel. (One kilogram of deuterium-tritium produces about 1,500 Mw, the same amount of energy as 10,000 tonnes – that’s 10 million kilograms – of coal.)

Roulstone said the power generated by JET’s experiment in those five brief seconds could power one house’s energy needs for a day. “But if generated repeatedly, it could power thousands of houses.”

Experts say the results prove that nuclear fusion is possible, and no longer a pipe dream, nor an unattainable solution for the worsening climate change crisis. Some researchers believe we could be reaping the benefits of fusion within another generation.

Mark Wenman, a nuclear materials researcher at Imperial College London, said in a statement that the JET experiment’s results are “exciting,” and that they demonstrate that “fusion energy really is no longer just a dream of the far future – the engineering to make it a useful, clean power source is achievable and happening now.”

Ian Chapman, CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, agreed, saying, “These landmark results have taken us a huge step closer to conquering one of the biggest scientific and engineering challenges of them all.”

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Unfortunately, experiments leading up to and including this most recent one, have taken such a toll on the JET facility – in terms of both heat and pressure – the widely celebrated December effort will likely be its last.

Don’t shed too many tears, though. The JET tokamak has been in operation since 1983 and, over its lengthy lifespan, has decidedly helped push forward the realisation of fusion power. Construction on its heir apparent, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), began in 2013.

The project is at about 80% completion now, and is projected to commence fusion reaction in 2025 or 2026, several years ahead of schedule. The ITER tokamak, sited in the south of France, will be the world’s largest once completed, and is a joint effort being supported by the US, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, and Russia.

The growing climate change crisis has hastened our urgency to migrate from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy. Fusion power holds immense promise, but even though we should see major strides in the coming decade, widespread implementation is still a long way off. Wednesday’s announcement, however, undoubtedly brought us one big step closer.

The post The Power of the Sun… In the Palm of an English Village appeared first on ExpatGo.

On December 21, 2021, researchers published a report in iScience detailing the discovery of a fossilised dinosaur egg in Southern China containing a well-preserved embryo. Although many fossilised dinosaur eggs and nests have been found over the last 100 years, none discovered were this rare or so perfectly preserved, according to paleontologists.

The position on the embryo in a tucking posture suggests that the species in question was highly likely a oviraptorosaurs, which belongs to the theropod group closely related to birds. According to experts, it is believed the act of tucking may have first evolved among non-avian theropods during the Cretaceous period.

“Most known non-avian dinosaur embryos are incomplete with skeletons disarticulated,” said Waisum Ma of the University of Birmingham, U.K. “We were surprised to see this embryo beautifully preserved inside a dinosaur egg, lying in a bird-like posture. This posture had not been recognised in non-avian dinosaurs before.”

The fossilised dinosaur embryo was found in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, southern China, and was acquired in 2000 by Lian Liu — the director of a company called Yingliang Group. Although Lian suspected that the fossil might contain an embryo, it was forgotten about after the egg ended up in storage for about 10 years. It was only uncovered again when museum staff were sorting through an archive of boxes and unearthed fossils during the construction of Yinliang Stone Nature History Museum.

“Museum staff identified them as dinosaur eggs and saw some bones on the broken cross section of one of the eggs,” Lida Xing of China University of Geosciences, Beijing, said. The fossils were then prepared, unveiling the embryo hidden within, which they named “Baby Yingliang.”

In the new study, Xing and colleagues report that the head lies ventral to the body, with the feet on either side, and the back curled along the blunt pole of the egg, in a posture previously unrecognized in a non-avian dinosaur. That’s especially notable because it’s reminiscent of a late-stage modern bird embryo.

Comparison of the specimen to other late-stage oviraptorosaur embryos suggests that before hatching, oviraptorosaurs developed avian-like postures late in their incubation. In modern birds, such coordinated embryonic movements are associated with tucking, a behavior that’s controlled by the central nervous system and is critical for hatching success.

The notion that such pre-hatching behaviour may have originated among non-avian theropods can now be further investigated through more studies of other fossil embryos. But first, the researchers say they’ll continue studying this rare specimen in even more depth, using various imaging techniques to image its internal anatomy, such as skull bones, and other body parts that are still covered in rocks.

The post Perfectly Preserved Dinosaur Embryo Discovered Inside Oviraptorosaur Egg appeared first on ExpatGo.

This article was written by ExpatGo contributor Jennifer Dawson.

Malaysia’s presence in international news has been a mixed bag of late. Malaysia fell to the bottom of Bloomberg’s monthly Covid resilience ranking in August as the Delta variant ripped through the country on the coronavirus front. 

On the other hand, Malaysia ranked fourth out of 59 locations in the worldwide 2021 Expat Insider Survey. So while the country continues to struggle with Covid-19, expatriates still identify it as one of the best places to migrate — though we expect that to possibly change in light of the government’s apparent antipathy towards foreigners.

Malaysia has made global headlines in another area as well: renewable energy. The country recently set energy goals that caught the world’s attention for its ambition. So just how well is Malaysia faring on these renewable energy goals?

MALAYSIA SETS LOFTY ENERGY GOALS

Under its new power generation plan, Malaysia has declared its intention to increase its share of renewable energy to 31% by 2025 and an eyebrow-raising 40% by 2035. According to Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Datuk Seri Dr. Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, the current installed capacity for renewable energy is 7,995 megawatts. The projection for 2035 is an increase to 18,000 megawatts.

The new plan focuses heavily on Peninsular Malaysia. This area accounts for 80% of the country’s energy demand. Minister Nasarah says the bulk of the new energy production will come from solar sources, although the plan also increases wind-derived energy.

WHERE MALAYSIA GETS ITS ENERGY

Currently, Malaysia derives 37% of its energy from petroleum and other liquid gases. Natural gas accounts for 36%, while coal meets roughly 21% of Malaysia’s energy needs. Only 6% of Malaysia’s current energy output is derived from renewable resources. 

With a population of 32.8 million and a GDP growth rate of -5.8% in 2020, Malaysia is 100% energy independent. Consumption per capita is significantly higher than any neighboring countries, however. Per capita, electricity consumption in Malaysia increased from 700 kWh over a decade, from 3,900 kWh per capita in 2010 to 4,600 kWh in 2020.

INFLUENCING FACTORS ON MALAYSIA’S ENERGY OUTPUT

The cost of solar power generation will be a significant factor in Malaysia’s new energy landscape. LCOE (levelized cost of energy) for solar power has dropped 19% a year since 2010, making this technology significantly more affordable. Thanks to this drop in price, solar capacity expanded 66% over that period and is poised to see even more explosive growth under this new energy plan.

The post The Land of Renewable Energy Opportunity: How Are Renewable Energies Faring in Malaysia? appeared first on ExpatGo.

This article was written by ExpatGo contributor Jennifer Dawson.

Not unlike highly advanced countries, Malaysia is experiencing a serious skills gap. According to The Malaysian Reserve, businesses across the country are struggling to meet the demands of the modern labor market, and are unwilling to drop experience requirements to allow locally educated students access into the market as graduates.

Commensurate with this, as has long been the case with Malaysia, eyes are turned to the international community to provide expertise. As a result, Malaysia has a lot to offer engineers inside the digital community, and that’s starting in the burgeoning service sector, if the visa requirements can be met.

SAAS DEVELOPMENT

Malaysia has taken on a role as a serious disruptor to western tech businesses. According to Tech In Asia, the latest such company to take a starring role is 123RF, who have started to develop their own line of software as a service (SaaS) model digital illustration and manipulation tools that promise to take the fight to Adobe and have, to date, banked US$16.7 million in startup investment.

However, as always, there is a significant gap in skills behind these startups. High skilled SaaS development is a relatively new phenomenon that is behind much of the revenue behind today’s tech giants – Amazon’s AWS is a SaaS, as is Microsoft and its OneDrive. Expat engineers working in these fields will find plenty of work in Malaysia.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Software engineers are often highly involved with the tech industry and gadgets, and that’s where that Malaysia has a lot to offer. Fixed broadband and internet speeds are improving rapidly in Kuala Lumpur, and there’s a lot of high-tech stuff to be toyed around with – never mind the city’s regional proximity to other tech hubs like Hong Kong, Australia, and Japan.

Furthermore, for those inclined to enjoy pastimes like video games, many major international retailers are pouring money into improved servers and connectivity in Malaysia and nearby countries. Alongside the classic quality of life experienced in Malaysia, with excellent health care, local cuisine, and general urban wellbeing, there’s cause to be excited for a potential move.

PAY APPRECIATION

A factor driving expats away from Malaysia and other countries in Southeast Asia has been pay. Despite the relatively high cost of living in Malaysia’s cities, it has not been uncommon, according to Adam Fayed, to see lead architects paid under US$30,000 – not even close to the levels that could be expected working in America or any country in Europe for the same skills. However, wages are now starting to grow, and that’s cause for celebration for expat engineers. Along with the quality of life and benefits offered by the authorities in their attempts to close the skills gap, pay is now increasing to more equitable levels.

For software engineers, Malaysia offers serious benefits. It’s a society deeply in need of new talent in that regard, and you can be sure to find work. The quality of life speaks for itself, and with pay on the increase, it’s no longer a drop in earnings to move.

The post What Does Malaysia Offer to Engineers? appeared first on ExpatGo.

Authorities in Singapore have provisionally approved a COVID-19 breathalyser test developed by a startup linked to the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The startup, a company by the name of Breathonix, was started by three NUS graduates, who explained that the test works just like a standard breathalyser test, and can provide results within about 60 seconds.

Named BreFence Go, the test uses a machine-learning system that examines chemical compounds of the tester’s breath, and then compares it against a breath signature of a Covid-19-positive patient. The test was developed from a cancer detection method originally created by Breathonix.

“The breath test is simple to administer by trained personnel, but does not require medically trained staff or laboratory processing,” said Breathonix and NUS in a statement. “A person only needs to blow into a disposable one-way valve mouthpiece connected to a high-precision breath sampler.

“The exhaled breath is collected and fed into a cutting-edge mass spectrometer for measurement,” they added. “A proprietary software algorithm analyses the VOCs biomarkers and generates results in less than a minute.”

Breathonix has provided reports of the test having undergone three separate clinical trials — two in Singapore and one in Dubai — and it achieved a 93% sensitivity rating, as well as a 95% specificity rating in one particular Singapore-based session with 180 patients.

The Health Sciences Authority of Singapore confirmed the approval of the device on their website, which reportedly makes the Breathonix test the first of its kind to secure provisional approval in the country.

Singapore will now be using the BreFence Go breathalyser as a first step in a two-part testing process to screen visitors entering from Malaysia at the Tuas Checkpoint.

Using the device along with conventional testing, if the breathalyser analyses a positive Covid result on someone, the person will immediately have to go for a PCR swab test. Reports add that the breathalyser will not be completely replacing the rapid antigen tests currently being administered at the checkpoint.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE FUTURE OF TESTING

As a viable testing method, the BreFence Go breathalyser could very well become instrumental to countries around the world with specific travel restrictions and protocols by detecting potential infections at a faster rate and with better accuracy.

“The pandemic is likely to go on for several years. Mass, repeated testing has to be widely adopted as a key public health strategy to support the safe reopening of economies, and Breathonix’s home-grown technology hits the right spot,” said Professor Freddy Boey, the deputy president of innovation and enterprise at NUS.

Upon receiving provisional approval in Singapore, Breathonix and NUS said they are in discussion with several local and overseas organisations to use the system, citing strong commercial interest. Other countries, including Indonesia and the Netherlands, have rolled out similar breath tests.

The post Breakthrough: Singapore Approves One-Minute Covid-19 Breathalyser Test appeared first on ExpatGo.

Having started their journey over five months ago, four NASA astronauts safely landed their SpaceX Dragon crew capsule, on the coast of Florida on Sunday, May 2.

The five-month trip to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule — dubbed Resilience — included NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, and Shannon Glover, along with Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. They boarded their spacecraft on Saturday night for the return journey back to Earth, which took a total of six and a half hours, landing in Florida waters at 2:56 a.m. ET.

This particular landing is momentous as it is the first nighttime splashdown for a crewed US spacecraft since Apollo 8 returned to Earth in 1968.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program has worked with several American aerospace industry companies to facilitate the development of U.S. human spaceflight systems since 2010. The goal is to have safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the ISS and foster commercial access to other potential low-Earth orbit destinations.

NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX in September 2014 to transport crew to the ISS from the United States. These integrated spacecraft, rockets and associated systems will carry up to four astronauts on NASA missions, maintaining a space station crew of seven to maximize time dedicated to scientific research on the orbiting laboratory.

The crew made headlines when they started their journey five months ago, not just for being on such an important mission with SpaceX, but for bringing along a “Baby Yoda” plush doll that was seen bobbing along in zero gravity with them.

Having left Earth on November 15 last year, the crew spent 168 days in orbit, including 167 days spent on the ISS.

While awaiting the return of Resilience, four more astronauts from three countries blasted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 23 aboard SpaceX craft Crew 2 to the ISS.

Resilience’s safe return can be observed as a testament to our human will to survive, and the hope we carry for a better future for all.

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