Technology
Semiconductors | Digital Watch Observatory
Semiconductors, often referred to as microchips, or simply chips, are an essential component of electronic devices that have become an important part of our everyday life. We can find them in our smartphones, computers, TVs, vehicles, advanced medical equipment, military systems, and countless other applications. In 2023, the sales of semiconductors reached a record $526.8 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. It is estimated that we use 120 chips per person on the planet on average. For example, a typical car uses between 50 and 150. However, a modern electric vehicle can use up to 3,000.
Semiconductor chips power our world. They are a key component of nearly every electronic device we use and they also power factories in which these devices are produced. Think for a minute of all the encounters you have with electronic devices. How many have you seen or used in the last week? In the last 24 hours? Each has important components that have been manufactured with electronic materials.
To understand the important role of semiconductor chips we have to explain what they are and how they are designed and produced. A substance that does not conduct electricity is called an insulator. A substance that conducts electricity is called a conductor. Semiconductors are substances with the properties of both an insulator and a conductor. They control and manage the flow of electric current in electronic equipment and devices.
The most used semiconductor is silicon. Using semiconductors, we can create electronic discrete components, such as diodes and transistors and integrated circuits (ICs). An IC is a small device implementing several electronic functions. It is made up of two major parts: a tiny and very fragile silicon chip and a package, which is intended to protect the internal silicon chip and to provide users with a practical way of handling the component. Semiconductor devices installed inside many electronics appliances are important electronic components that support functioning of the world.
Types of chips
We can categorise types of chips according to the ICs used or to their functionality.
Sorted by types of IC used, there are three types of chips:
Most computer processors currently use digital circuits. These circuits usually combine transistors and logic gates. Digital circuits use digital, discrete signals that are generally based on a binary scheme. Two different voltages are assigned, each representing a different logical value. On the other hand, in analog circuits, voltage and current vary continuously at specified points in the circuit. Power supply chips are usually analog chips. Another application using analog circuits is communication systems. Mixed integrated circuits are typically digital chips with added technology for working with both analog and digital circuits. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) are essential parts of these types of circuit.
Sorted according to functionality, categories of semiconductors include:
- Memory chips
- Microprocessors
- Graphic processing units (GPUs)
- Application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)
- Systems-on-a-chip (SoCs)
Memory chips
The main function of semiconductor memory chips is to store data and programs on computers and data storage devices. Electronic semiconductor memory technology can be split into two main categories, based on the way in which the memory operates:
- Read-only memory (ROM)
- Random-access memory (RAM)
There are many types of ROM and RAM available. They stem from a variety of applications and also the number of technologies available. This section contains a brief overview of the functionality of the main memory chip types.
Microprocessors
Microprocessors are made of one or more central processing units (CPUs). Multiple CPUs can be found in computer servers, personal computers (PCs), tablets, and smartphones.
The 32- and 64-bit microprocessors in PCs and servers today are mostly based on x86 chip architectures, first developed decades ago. Mobile devices like smartphones typically use an ARM chip architecture. Less powerful 8-, 16-, and 24-bit microprocessors (called microcontrollers) are found in products such as toys and vehicles. We will address these architectures later in the Technology and production section as the first step of chip production.
Graphic processing units
A graphics processing unit (GPU), which is a type of microprocessor, renders graphics for the smoother display that is expected in modern videos and games by most consumers of electrical devices. GPU rendering is the use of a GPU in the automatic generation of two-dimensional or three-dimensional images from a model, done by computer programs.
A GPU can be used in combination with a CPU, where it can increase computer performance by taking some more complex computations, such as rendering, from the CPU. This is a big improvement, since it accelerates how quickly applications can process data; the GPU can perform many calculations simultaneously. It also allows development of more advanced software in fields such as machine learning and cryptocurrency mining.
Application-specific integrated circuits
Application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are made for a specific purpose. They enable significant amounts of circuitry to be incorporated onto a single chip, decreasing the number of external components. They can be used in a wide range of applications, such as bitcoin mining, personal digital assistants, and environmental monitoring.
Systems-on-a-chip
The system-on-a-chip (SoC) is one of the newest types of IC chips, a single chip that contains all of the electronic components needed for an entire electronic or computer system. The capabilities of an SoC are more comprehensive than those of a microcontroller chip, because they almost always include a CPU with RAM, ROM, and input/output (I/O). The SoC may also integrate camera, graphics, and audio and video processing in a smartphone.
Technology and production
Production phases
Most semiconductor companies choose to work on two main stages of production: manufacturing and/or design. Those focused solely on manufacture/fabrication are called foundries (also known as fabs or semiconductor fabrication plants). Those focused on design are called fabless companies. Fabless companies such as Broadcom, Qualcomm, and HiSilicon (the in-house design firm of China’s Huawei) specialise in chip design and outsource fabrication, assembly, and packaging. They contract the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and others to fabricate for them. A third type semiconductor company focuses on both manufacturing and design, and are called Integrated Device Manufacturers, or IDMs. Intel and Samsung are among the world’s biggest IDMs. Other semiconductor companies work on assembly and packaging, and the manufacture of semiconductor equipment.
Process nodes and wafers
One term you might often notice when reading about chips is process node. This represents the standardised process used across a whole range of products. The semiconductor process is based on a set of steps to make an IC with transistors that have to meet certain levels of performance and size characteristics. Standardising the process allows faster production and improvement of these chips. Separate teams are not needed for each smaller group of products; the same solutions can be used for many products at the same time. This makes production more efficient. Creating a smaller process node means coming up with a new manufacturing process with smaller features and better tolerances by integrating new manufacturing technologies.
Process nodes are usually named with a number followed by the abbreviation for nanometer: 7nm, 10nm, 14nm, etc. Nowadays, there is no correlation between the name of the node and any feature of the CPU. TSMC’s vice president of corporate research, Dr Philip Wong said concerning the node names: “It used to be the technology node, the node number, means something, some features on the wafer. Today, these numbers are just numbers. They’re like models in a car – it’s like BMW 5-series or Mazda 6. It doesn’t matter what the number is, it’s just a destination of the next technology, the name for it. So, let’s not confuse ourselves with the name of the node with what the technology actually offers.”
Another term you might run into is wafer. It is a thin slice of semiconductor, such as a crystalline silicon, used for the fabrication of ICs. The larger the wafer, the more chips that can be placed on it.
Investment in producing semiconductor chips
The main goal of producing semiconductor chips is to try and make them as small as possible. If we can create a smaller process node, we can have smaller chips and we can fit more of them on a wafer, which results in higher profit. However, transistors are physical objects; there is a physical limit to how small they can be.
The history of semiconductor chips
In 1965, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc., and Intel (and former CEO of the latter), predicted that manufacturers would go from 65 to 65k transistors per processor in the next 10 years. Moore’s predictions of the exponential growth trajectory that the industry was on were captured in Moore’s Law, which states that the number of transistors in a dense IC doubles about every two years. The Law not only predicted the increasing computer power, it was also a self-fulfilling prophecy. The improvement in semiconductors over the years attracted more investment in production, materials, and manpower, which in turn brought a lot of profit.
Steps in the chip production
Instruction Set Architecture
As a first step, how the processor will perform its most basic instructions is defined, for example do calculations or access memory. The Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) acts as an interface between the hardware and the software, specifying both what the processor is capable of doing as well as how it gets done. The main goal is to turn this model of how the CPU is controlled by the software into an industry standard. This allows processors and operating systems of multiple companies to follow the same standard and become interoperable.
For example, Windows, Mac iOS, and Linux can run on a variety of Intel and AMD chips through the power of x86. The x86 ISA family was developed by Intel; it is the world’s predominant hardware platform for laptops, desktops, and servers. For mobile phones, Arm chips are used in most cases. Arm is a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architecture developed by the British company Arm Limited. Some companies, such as Samsung and Huawei, create their own chips. Intel and AMD own most of the x86 and only licence their ISA to a single active competitor: VIA Technologies Inc., in Taiwan. Moving a complex operating system to a new ISA would take a lot of time.
Chip design
Today, circuit diagrams are created by companies. Some of them, like Intel and Samsung, manufacture what they design. However, most are fabless companies; they outsource the manufacturing to foundries. This allows them to focus only on the design part, while other parts of the process are left to other players. In addition, a lot of companies that use specialised chips now design their own chips, so that they don’t have to rely on Intel, for example, to create a chip that suits their needs. Examples include Apple, Samsung, and Huawei designing chips for their phones; Google for its AI service Tensorflow; Microsoft and Amazon for their data centres.
Fabrication
In this step, the goal is getting that design onto silicon wafers. This is a complex process that also requires a lot of capital. It is extremely expensive to produce chips, as manufacturers have to spend around 30%–50% on capital expenditures, compared to the 3%–5% designers spend. In most cases it is done by foundries, such as TSMC. Leaders in the field, foundries can use their machines in multiple production parts for different kinds of chips. Most competitors gave up on trying to compete with TSMC since it didn’t make sense economically.
Some of the world leaders are deciding to split their design and fabrication business, such as Samsung and Samsung Foundry, and AMD and GlobalFoundries. Even Intel might start outsourcing their manufacturing to an external foundry.
Equipment and software
Custom equipment and software are required for each chip. For example, extreme UV lithography machines (EUVs) are required in lithography, in which the design is transferred to the silicon wafer using EUVs. The Dutch company ASML is the sole producer of high-end EUV machines. ASML CEO Peter Wennink said they have sold a total of about 140 EUV systems in the past decade, each one now costing up to $200 million. TSMC buys around half of the machines they produce. This is just one example of a monopoly in the production of equipment.
Packaging and testing
Silicon wafers are cut up into individual chips. Wires and connectors are attached. And the chips are put into a protective housing. They’re tested for quality before being distributed and sold.
The future of semiconductor chips
As semiconductors get increasingly complex, it will be more and more expensive to compete in this space, creating a further concentration of power, which in turn creates economic and political tensions. Other factors, such as experiments with new materials for semiconductors, changes in the prices of metal materials, and the increase in development of new technologies in artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), and similar fields will affect future sales and add new challenges and opportunities.
Supply chain disruption
The supply chain issue focuses on the ongoing global chip shortage, which started in 2020. The issue is simple: demand for ICs is greater than supply. Many companies and governments are searching for a solution to accelerate chip production. As a consequence of the supply chain disruption, prices for electrical devices have increased; production times are longer; and devices such as graphics cards, computers, video game consoles and gear, and automobiles are in short supply.
Trend to fabless companies
The move from foundries to fabless companies helped complicate the chip shortage. More and more major semiconductor factories are adopting the fabless model and outsourcing to major manufacturers like TSMC and Samsung. For example, Intel talked with Samsung and TSMC to outsource some chip production to them.
In 2020, the USA had captured 47% of the global market share of semiconductor sales, but only 12% of manufacturing, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. The country has put semiconductors at the top of its diplomatic agenda as it tries to work out export policies with its partners.
How COVID-19 created a global computer chip shortage
The global pandemic had a major influence on the chip shortage. COVID-19 forced people to work and do everything from home, which for most of us meant we needed to upgrade our computers, get better speakers and cameras, make home theatres, and play a lot of video games.
Most businesses struggled to set up remote work systems, and there was an increased need for cloud infrastructure. All this together, along with the pause in production during the lockdowns, caused a massive supply chain disruption for electronics companies. Some governments are now increasing their investments in this industry, so they can hopefully lessen the impact of the disruption.
The semiconductor production process is very complex. Typically, the lead time is over four months for products that are already established. Trying to switch to a new manufacturer can take over a year, specifically since chip designs need to match the manufacturer’s ability to produce those designs and make them function on a high level.
How the car industry contributed to the chip shortage
Cars are getting more advanced each year and they need more semiconductors, such as advanced semiconductors to run increasingly more complex in-vehicle computer systems; and older, less advanced semiconductors for things like power steering.
During the pandemic, the auto supply chain was disrupted. Cars require custom chips, which are commissioned by automakers. Chips for phones are not in short supply on that level, because they are designed around standardised chips. Car manufacturers use custom components to prevent aftermarket profits for third parties. The lead time to build standard semiconductors is about six months. The lead time for custom chips is two-to-three years. The pause in production created a massive delay of a lot of vehicles.
For instance, car manufacturers cut chip orders in early 2020 as sales of vehicles decreased. After sales recovered, the demand for chips increased even more than expected in the second part of 2020, which meant manufacturers had to move the production lines even later.
How the China–US trade war contributed to the chip shortage
At the base of this conflict stand two competing economic systems. The USA imports more from China than from any other country, and China is one of the largest export markets for US goods and services. Ever since September 2020, when the USA imposed restrictions on China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China’s largest chip manufacturer, it has made it harder for China to sell to companies that cooperate with the USA. Consequently, TSMC and Samsung chips were used more, creating an issue for those companies as they were already working and producing at maximum capacity.
Geopolitics
- Only IDMs
- Only fabrication
- Fabrication and IDMs
- Design and fabrication
- All three (design, fabrication and IDMs)
- None of three options
In the past couple of years, semiconductors have become a geopolitical issue. The strategic technology of semiconductors is not only the foundation of modern electronics, but also the foundation of the international economic balance of power. The transnational supply chain is a big part of this technology that is now distributed in its production and supply across the world, with multiple countries specialised in particular parts of the production chain.
Since the supply chain is so internationally distributed, there has been an increase in patent infringement lawsuits in this field, lawsuits on the grounds of misappropriation of intellectual property, and ones such as GlobalFoundries seeking orders that will prevent semiconductors produced with the allegedly infringing technology by Taiwan-based TSMC from being imported into the USA and Germany.
Policy measures for cooperation have been proposed, such as the EU Commission’s proposed CHIPS Act to confront semiconductor shortages and strengthen Europe’s technological leadership, and the World Semiconductor Council (WSC) series of policy proposals to strengthen the industry through greater international cooperation. However, creating global policies and regulations that respect the national legal frameworks of each global actor in the semiconductor industry is not easy to achieve, but there is a trend towards international cooperation with policies set in place.
China
China’s role in this supply chain is that of a vast consumer of semiconductors, importing a sizable percentage. China still cannot meet its semiconductor needs domestically. However, it is working on building a chain of production and wants to move to higher-value production.
The manufacturing industry is built on semiconductors. China uses them in a variety of electronic manufacturing sectors. Thus, if anyone takes action against China in the semiconductor industry, they would disrupt the production chain in many other sectors. For example, US export controls directed at Huawei have had a significant effect on the global smartphone market. This has undermined Huawei’s capacity to deliver cutting-edge consumer devices, which consequently cut their market shares compared to their competitors, but acted as a stimulus to the industry. Beijing has made chips a top priority in the next 5-Year Plan. It will invest $1.4 trillion to develop the industry by 2025. In 2020, the country invested 407% more than the previous year. Its main goals are semiconductor independence with 77% of chips used in China, coming from China.
USA
The USA is home to most chip design companies, such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nvidia, and AMD. However, these companies increasingly have to rely on foreign companies for manufacturing.
“We definitely believe there should be fabs of TSMC [and] Samsung being built in America, but we also believe the CHIPS Act should be preferential for U.S. IP [intellectual property] and U.S. companies like Intel,” said Patrick P. Gelsinger, CEO of Intel in an online interview hosted by the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank on 10 January 2022.
In 2022, the USA announced an investment of more than $20 billion to build two new chip plants in the state of Ohio. Construction is set to begin in late 2022, with production predicted to go onstream in 2025.
During the pandemic, the Biden administration presented its plans to end the supply chain crisis by changing the supply chain, starting with changing the production of certain elements in the USA. The USA will work more closely with trusted friends and partners, nations that share US values so that their supply chain cannot be used against the country as leverage.
The US administration needs to look at both national and economical security. A thriving US semiconductor industry means a strong American economy, high-paying jobs, and a national ripple-effect, such as the impact on transportation with new vehicles increasingly relying on chips for safety and fuel efficiency.
Taiwan
Taiwan-based TSMC has a huge role in the global semiconductor supply chain. As the number one chip manufacturer, it has built its market dominance for years. TSMC has set such a high standard for chip production it will take a long time for a competitor to reach its level.
Taiwan doesn’t have the same trade issues that China has, since it cooperates with many countries. For example TSMC committed to building a $12 billion fabrication plant in Arizona, USA, to start producing 5nm chips by 2024 (not 3nm, which will be the cutting edge then produced in Taiwan).
Building has begun; TSMC is hiring US engineers and sending them to Taiwan for training, although, according to Taiwan’s Minister of the National Development Council Ming-Hsin Kung, the pace of construction depends on Congress approving federal subsidies.
Taiwan is preparing to introduce tougher laws to protect the semiconductor industry from Chinese industrial espionage. “High-tech industry is the lifeline of Taiwan. However, the infiltration of the Chinese supply chain into Taiwan has become serious in recent years. They are luring away high-tech talent, stealing national critical technologies, circumventing Taiwan’s regulations, operating in Taiwan without approval and unlawfully investing in Taiwan, which is causing harm to Taiwan’s information technology security as well as the industry’s competitiveness,” said Lo Ping-cheng, Minister without Portfolio and Spokesperson for the Executive Yuan.
The overreliance on a single Taiwanese chip fabrication company carries supply chain risks for the broader semiconductor industry.
In February of 2022, Taiwan’s Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua emphasised: “Taiwan will continue to be a trusted partner of the global semiconductor industry and help stabilise supply chain resilience.” The statement said that Taiwan has “tried its best” to help the EU and other partners resolve a global shortage of chips. TSMC has said it was still in the very early stages of assessing a potential manufacturing plant in Europe, as they are currently focusing on building chip factories in the USA.
South Korea
Samsung is a major manufacturer of electronic components, semiconductors being one of them. Although the company is catching up with TMSC, this still means only two companies are able to provide that type of service at the cutting edge of technology and it will be difficult to change this situation anytime soon. In 2021, Samsung’s market share of the global semiconductor industry was 12%. In addition to exporting semiconductors to countries such as the USA and China, Samsung uses its own semiconductors in its other products as well as selling them to technology companies in South Korea that use them, too.
South Korea has its own version of the CHIPS Act offering state support to the domestic chip industry currently led by Samsung and SK Hynix. Unlike other global actors, South Korea‘s new chip law does not specify quantitative targets for how much it would cost for their government to carry out its plans and what the consequence would be on economic growth or job creation. As a result, South Korea’s large corporations will be subject to a 6%–10% tax break for facility investment and a 30%–40% tax credit for research and development, while smaller companies will have a larger degree of tax relief.
The EU
As a consequence of the crisis in the shortage of the semiconductor chips that led to problems such as a lack of components and European companies closing, the EU has started taking steps towards the goal of doubling chip manufacturing output to 20% of the global market by 2030. Security, energy efficiency, and green transition are additional goals it is focusing on. The new Digital Compass Plan will fund various high/tech initiatives to boost digital sovereignty.
Emerging market opportunities, such as AI, edge computing, and digital transformation bring a lot of demand for chip production. New needs for AI will bring new production models and collaboration. The EU’s strengths are R&D, manufacturing equipment, and raw materials. Its weaknesses lie in semiconductor IP and digital design, design tools, manufacturing, and packaging.
As a result, the EU needs the CHIPS Act. The goals will be to strengthen its research and technology leadership; build and reinforce its own capacity to innovate in the design, manufacturing, and packaging of the advanced chips; put in place an adequate framework to substantially increase its production capacity by 2030; address the acute skills shortage; and develop an in-depth understanding of the global semiconductor supply chains.
Three pillars of the CHIPS Act (by European Semiconductor Board) :
- Chips for Europe Initiative – Initiative on infrastructure building in synergy with the EU’s research programmes; support to start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
- Security of Supply – First-of-a-kind semiconductor production facilities.
- Monitoring and Crisis Response – Monitoring and alerting, a crisis coordination mechanism with member states, and strong commission powers in times of crisis.
Member states are enthusiastic about this topic. They all understand the importance and feel the effects of the shortage. They have already started working on these problems in the expert group, trying to find possible solutions to face these kinds of challenges.
The next steps
The prospect of European or American firms that could do similar service in the next five years is unrealistic. The EU is promising to invest €43 billion over the period of 2030. TMSC will invest over $40 billion in 2022 alone on its capital expenditure, and Samsung will try to match it, which shows the difference in the investments and also further proves how it will be hard to catch up with the leaders of chip production.
Science & Environment
What caused the hydrothermal explosion at Yellowstone National Park? A meteorologist explains
Yellowstone National Park visitors were sent running and screaming Tuesday when a hydrothermal explosion spewed boiling hot water and rocks into the air. No one was injured, but it has left some wondering: How does this happen and why wasn’t there any warning?
The Weather Channel’s Stephanie Abrams said explosions like this are caused by underground channels of hot water, which also create Yellowstone’s iconic geysers and hot springs.
“When the pressure rapidly drops in a localized spot, it actually forces the hot water to quickly turn to steam, triggering a hydrothermal explosion since gas takes up more space than liquid,” Abrams said Wednesday on “CBS Mornings.” “And this explosion can rupture the surface, sending mud and debris thousands of feet up and more than half a mile out in the most extreme cases.”
Tuesday’s explosion was not that big, Abrams said, “but a massive amount of rocks and dirt buried the Biscuit Basin,” where the explosion occurred.
A nearby boardwalk was left with a broken fence and was covered in debris. Nearby trees were also killed, with the U.S. Geological Survey saying the plants “can’t stand thermal activity.”
“Because areas heat up and cool down over time, trees will sometimes die out when an area heats up, regrow as it cools down, but then die again when it heats up,” the agency said on X.
The USGS said it considers this explosion small, and that similar explosions happen in the national park “perhaps a couple times a year.” Often, though, they happen in the backcountry and aren’t noticed.
“It was small compared to what Yellowstone is capable of,” USGS Volcanoes said on X. “That’s not to say it was not dramatic or very hazardous — obviously it was. But the big ones leave craters hundreds of feet across.”
The agency also said that “hydrothermal explosions, “being episodes of water suddenly flashing to steam, are notoriously hard to predict” and “may not give warning signs at all.” It likened the eruptions to a pressure cooker.
While Yellowstone sits on a dormant volcano, officials said the explosion was not related to volcanic activity.
“This was an isolated incident in the shallow hot-water system beneath Biscuit Basin,” the USGS said. “It was not triggered by any volcanic activity.”
Technology
What happened to the Metaverse?
S6
Ep135
What happened to the Metaverse?
Host Andrew Davidson is joined by technology experts Brian Benway and Jan Urbanek in a discussion about the Metaverse. Our experts shed light on the latest technological and hardware advancements and marketing strategies from Big Tech. What will it take for the Metaverse to gain mainstream popularity? Listen now to find out!
Head over to Mintel’s LinkedIn to let us know what you think of today’s episode, and visit mintel.com to become a member of our free Spotlight community.
Visit the Mintel Store to explore all our technology research and buy a report today.
Meet the Host
Andrew Davidson
SVP/Chief Insights Officer, Mintel Comperemedia.
Meet the Guests
Brian Benway
Senior Analyst, Gaming and Entertainment, Mintel Reports US.
Jan Urbanek
Senior Analyst, Consumer Technology, Mintel Reports Germany.
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Science & Environment
Archaeologists make stunning underwater discovery of ancient mosaic in sea off Italy
Researchers studying an underwater city in Italy say they have found an ancient mosaic floor that was once the base of a Roman villa, a discovery that the local mayor called “stupendous.”
The discovery was made in Bay Sommersa, a marine-protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site off the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. The area was once the Roman city of Baia, but it has become submerged over the centuries thanks to volcanic activity in the area. The underwater structures remain somewhat intact, allowing researchers to make discoveries like the mosaic floor.
The Campi Flegrei Archaeological Park announced the latest discovery, which includes “thousands of marble slabs” in “hundreds of different shapes,” on social media.
“This marble floor has been at the center of the largest underwater restoration work,” the park said, calling the research “a new challenge” and made “very complicated due to the extreme fragment of the remains and their large expansion.”
The marble floor is made of recovered, second-hand marble that had previously been used to decorate other floors or walls, the park said. Each piece of marble was sharpened into a square and inscribed with circles. The floor is likely from the third century A.D., the park said in another post, citing the style of the room and the repurposing of the materials as practices that were common during that time.
Researchers are working carefully to extract the marble pieces from the site, the park said. The recovery work will require careful digging around collapsed walls and other fragmented slabs, but researchers hope to “be able to save some of the geometries.”
Once recovered, the slabs are being brought to land and cleaned in freshwater tanks. The marble pieces are then being studied “slab by slab” to try to recreate the former mosaic, the park said.
“The work is still long and complex, but we are sure that it will offer many prompts and great satisfactions,” the park said.
Technology
SpaceX fires up Starship engines ahead of fifth test flight
SpaceX has just performed a static fire of the six engines on its Starship spacecraft as it awaits permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the fifth test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket.
The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company shared footage and an image of the test fire on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday. It shows the engines firing up while the vehicle remained on the ground.
Six engine static fire of Flight 6 Starship pic.twitter.com/fzJz9BWBn6
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 19, 2024
For flights, the Starship spacecraft is carried to orbit by the first-stage Super Heavy booster, which pumps out 17 million pounds of thrust at launch, making it the most powerful rocket ever built.
The Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft — collectively known as the Starship — have launched four times to date, with the performance of each test flight showing improvements over the previous one.
The first one, for example, exploded shortly after lift off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, in April last year, while the second effort, which took place seven months later, achieved stage separation before an explosion occurred — an incident that was captured in dramatic footage. The third and fourth flights lasted much longer and achieved many of the mission objectives, including getting the Starship spacecraft to orbit.
The fifth test flight isn’t likely to take place until November at the earliest, according to a recent report. It will involve the first attempt to use giant mechanical arms to “catch” the Super Heavy booster as it returns to the launch area. SpaceX recently expressed extreme disappointment at the time that it’s taking the FAA to complete an investigation that will pave the way for the fifth Starship test, and has said that it’ll be ready to launch the vehicle within days of getting permission from the FAA.
Once testing is complete, NASA wants to use the Starship, along with its own Space Launch System rocket, to launch crew and cargo to the moon and quite possibly for destinations much further into space such as Mars. NASA is already planning to use a modified version of the Starship spacecraft to land the first astronauts in five decades on the lunar surface in the Artemis III mission, currently set for 2026.
Science & Environment
Painkiller used in cattle wiped out India’s vultures, and scientists say that led to 500,000 human deaths
New Delhi — Scientists say Indian farmers’ eager uptake of a painkiller for their cattle in the 1990s has led to the inadvertent deaths of half of a million people and massive economic losses — not from any harm to the cattle, but from the loss of millions of vultures, scavengers that historically devoured animals’ remains before they could rot and become vectors for disease.
In early 1990s, the patent on a painkiller called diclofenac lifted, making it cheap and widely available for India’s massive agricultural sector. Farmers use it to treat a wide array of conditions in cattle. But even a small amount of the drug is fatal to vultures. Since the beginning of its widespread use in India, the domestic vulture population has dropped from a whopping 50 million to just a few thousand — and according to a study published by the American Economic Association, the impact on humans has been monumental, reflecting the vital role the scavengers play.
Vultures have been a crucial part of India’s ecosystems for centuries. According to the authors of the study, entitled “The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence From The Decline of Vultures in India,” the large, homely birds are a “keystone species” — one that plays an irreplaceable role in an ecosystem.
They’re the only scavengers that feed entirely on carcasses, and they do it extremely efficiently, quickly devouring the remains and leaving little behind to spread disease. The study authors say India’s vultures would typically eat at least 50 million animal carcasses every year, before their population was decimated.
In doing so, they prevented the dead farm animals from rotting, and the deadly bacteria and other pathogens that thrive in carcasses from being transmitted into human populations.
“In a country like India with prohibitions on eating beef, most cattle end up turning into carcasses,” Anant Sudarshan, an associate professor of economics at the University of Warwick in England, who co-authored the study, told CBS News. “Vultures provide an incredible disposal service for free. … A group of vultures takes about 45 minutes to turn a cow carcass into bone.”
The vultures’ keen appetite also helped keep the populations of competing scavengers in check, such as feral dogs and rats, which can transmit rabies and a host of other diseases.
In 1994, farmers began giving diclofenac to their cattle and other livestock. The drug causes kidney failure and death in vultures that feed on the carcasses of animals given the painkiller, and the population of the birds shrank from 50 million to just 20,000 over the course of the ensuing decade alone.
Without the vultures around to do the job, farmers started disposing their dead livestock in local bodies of water, which caused water pollution — and another way for pathogens to reach humans.
Sudarshan and study co-author Eyal Frank, an environmental economist at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, examined the impact of the drastically reduced vulture population on human health by mapping vulture habitats with health data from more than 600 districts in India. They said their research shows 100,000 human deaths every year between 2000 and 2005 could be linked with the decreased vulture populations.
It also shows economic losses they estimated at $69 billion per year, largely associated with premature human deaths due to the collapse of the scavenger population.
These deaths were caused, according to their research, by the spread of diseases that a thriving vulture population would have mitigated. Stray dog populations, and with them, the spread of rabies, also increased during the timeframe, as did the amount of bacteria measured in many local water sources.
“India is now the largest center of rabies in the world, as the feral dog population has grown dramatically,” Sudarshan told CBS News.
Without a major vulture rebound, the study authors said the spread of disease and resulting deaths will only continue in the coming years, as will the costs associated with health care.
India did ban diclofenac for veterinary use in 2006, but Sudarshan said the ban needs to be enforced much more effectively. He and Eyal have called for more conservation funding to boost vulture populations, but they’ve warned that even if the Indian government does mount a major effort, it will take at least a decade for the species to bounce back to the extent required because they’re “slow reproducers.”
As an alternative to bringing the vultures back, Sudarshan said India could build a network of incinerators around the country, but the estimated cost of that is about $1 billion per year, and they would use a huge amount of energy and create considerable air pollution, which is already a major problem for India.
“So, it makes more sense to bring back the natural way of dealing with the millions of animal carcasses that India produces each year,” he said.
And he said that work must start urgently, as the “vultures began dying in the 1990s. India has not done anything three decades on.”
The government does spend about $3 million per year to save India’s native tigers. Sudarshan said while vultures may be far less of a tourist attraction, there’s a broader question about “the basis of our conservation policy.”
“Our paper shows that the cost of losing them [vultures] is about $69 billion a year, which is far higher than any benefits the tiger” brings, he said, adding: “We need to think from a cost effectiveness point of view and growth view, how should we pick species to conserve?”
“Understanding the role vultures play in human health underscores the importance of protecting wildlife – and not just the cute and cuddly,” said his co-author, Frank. “They all have a job to do in our ecosystems that impacts our lives.”
Technology
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Apple has recently announced its new flagship smartphones, including the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the largest one. In this article, we’ll compare it to the best Samsung has to offer, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max. These two devices are quite different when it comes to design, but that’s not where the similarities end, not at all, quite the contrary, actually. There is plenty to talk about here.
As we usually do, we will first list the specifications of both smartphones and will then move to compare them across a number of other categories. We will compare their designs, displays, performance, battery life, cameras, and audio output. There are quite a few differences to talk about here, as the two companies have completely different approaches. Let’s get down to it, shall we?
Specs
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, respectively
– Screen size:
6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (flat, adaptive 120Hz, HDR10+, 2,600 nits max brightness)
6.9-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED ( flat, 120Hz, HDR, 2,000 nits)
– Display resolution:
3120 x 1440
2868 x 1320
– SoC:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy (4nm)
Apple A18 Pro (3nm)
– RAM:
12GB (LPDDR5X)
16GB (LPDDR5X)
– Storage:
256GB/512GB/1TB (UFS 4.0)
128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB (UFS 3.1)
– Rear cameras:
200MP (wide, f/1.7 aperture, OIS, multi-directional PDAF, 0.6um pixel size), 12MP (ultrawide, 120-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, Dual Pixel PDAF 1.4um pixel size), 10MP (telephoto, f/2.4 aperture, OIS, Dual Pixel PDAF, 1.12um pixel size, 3x optical zoom), 50MP (periscope telephoto, OIS, PDAF, 5x optical zoom)
48MP (wide, f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.28-inch sensor, 1.22um pixel size, sensor-shift OIS), 48MP (ultrawide, f/2.2 aperture, 0.7um pixel size, PDAF), 12MP (periscope telephoto, f/2.8 aperture, 1/3.06-inch sensor, 1.12um pixel size, 3D sensor-shift OIS, 5x optical zoom).
– Front cameras:
12MP (wide, f/2.2 aperture, Dual Pixel PDAF, 22mm lens)
12MP (f/1.9 aperture, PDAF, 1/3.6-inch sensor size, OIS)
– Battery:
5,000mAh
Not confirmed yet
– Charging:
45W wired, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless (charger not included)
38W wired & 25W MagSafe & Qi2 wireless, 7.5W Qi wireless, 5W reverse wired
– Dimensions:
162.3 x 79 x 8.6mm
163 x 77.6 x 8.3 mm
– Weight:
232/233 grams
227 grams
– Connectivity:
5G, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.3
– Security:
Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner & facial scanning
Face ID (3D facial scanning)
– OS:
Android 14 with One UI 6.1
iOS 18
– Price:
$1,299+
$1,199+
– Buy:
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (Best Buy)
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max: Design
The moment you lay your eyes on the two phones you’ll realize how different they are. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a flat top and bottom sides, but its left and right sides are curved. All sides of the iPhone 16 Pro Max are flat, though they are slightly rounded toward the edges. Apple did that so that the phone is more comfortable to hold. Both phones do include flat displays with cutouts on them. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a little hole at the top of the display, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a rather large pill-shaped cutout.
The bezels around their displays are very thin, and uniform. All the physical buttons sit on the right-hand side of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a power/lock key there and a Camera Control button. On the left, you’ll find the volume up and down buttons, and the Action Button. The two devices have considerably different camera setups on the back. Each of the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s four cameras protrudes directly from the back side. There is no dedicated camera island. The exact opposite is true for the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Its camera island sits in the top-left corner with three cameras.
Both of these phones are made out of titanium and glass. They have a titanium frame. They are both also IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. Corning’s Gorilla Armor sits on the back of Samsung’s handset. Apple’s device has a “Corning-made glass” on the back. The two phones are almost the same in terms of height, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra is slightly wider. They are almost identical in terms of thickness. Both phones are quite slippery, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra is 5 grams heavier.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max: Display
The Galaxy S24 Ultra feautres a 6.8-inch QHD+ 3120 x 1440 Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display. That panel has an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. It also offers support for HDR10+ content, and its peak brightness is at 2,600 nits. The screen-to-body ratio is around 88%, while the display aspect ratio is 19.5:9. The Gorilla Armor from Corning sits on top of the display in order to protect it.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max, on the flip side, has a 6.9-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED display. That display has an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. HDR10 is supported, as is Dolby Vision. The peak brightness here is 2,000 nits. The screen-to-body ratio on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is around 91%. The display aspect ratio is 19.5:9. This display is protected by the Ceramic Shield glass.
Both of these panels are great. They are vivid, bright, and have great viewing angles. The blacks are deep, and the touch response is good. Neither phone has high-frequency PWM dimming, though. The Galaxy S24 Ultra does technically get brighter, but the difference is not that big, not even in direct sunlight. What the Galaxy S24 Ultra does have an advantage with is… glare. The Gorilla Armor on top of the display is unbelievable in that regard.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max: Performance
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy fuels the Galaxy S24 Ultra. That is a 4nm chip and Qualcomm’s best one at the time of writing this. The phone is also equipped with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 flash storage. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is fueled by the Apple A18 Pro processor. That is a 3nm chip, by the way. The phone is also equipped with 8GB of RAM and NVMe flash storage. Neither phone offers expandable storage, by the way.
With that being said, both phones do offer great performance. Our iPhone 16 Pro (Max) review is not ready yet, but plenty of impressions are already there. In any case, both devices are very fluid in terms of day-to-day use. They can jump between apps without a problem, and getting them to slow down is a chore. They do great regardless of what you’re doing, even when it comes to a bit more advanced things such as video processing.
What about gaming, though? Well, they’re great in that regard too. Non-demanding games are, of course, not a problem, but the same goes for truly demanding titles too. Each of these two smartphones can run basically anything you can think of, and do it really well. Titles like Genshin Impact are not a problem at all. They will get warm, but not too much, and that won’t affect the gaming performance at all.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max: Battery
There is a 5,000mAh battery included inside the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Apple still didn’t confirm what battery it used in the iPhone 16 Pro Max, though. It is tipped to be a 4,676mAh unit, but we’re still not 100% sure. Apple’s handsets usually have smaller batteries compared to their Android counterparts, due to the way iOS operates, but that doesn’t mean they have inferior battery life. In fact, both of these smartphones are outstanding in that regard.
We were in awe of the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s battery life when we first reviewed it. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is showing a similar promise, actually. Getting to over 7-8 hours of screen-on-time is a possibility on both phones, though your mileage may vary, of course. That will depend on a number of factors. The point is, we were unable to drain the battery life of either phone in a day. We could have done that with constant gaming, of course, but with general heavy use, no… that didn’t happen.
What about charging? Well, the Galaxy S24 Ultra supports 45W wired, 15W wireless, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. The iPhone 16 Pro Max, on the other hand, supports 45W wired, 25W MagSafe wireless, 15W Qi2 wireless, 7.5W Qi wireless, and 5W reverse wired charging. Do note that neither smartphone comes with a charger in the retail box, however. All you’ll get is a cable.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max: Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with four cameras on the back, while Apple’s handset has three rear cameras. The Galaxy S24 Ultra includes a 200-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide unit (120-degree FoV), a 10-megapixel telephoto unit (3x optical zoom), and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (5x optical zoom). The iPhone 16 Pro Max, on the other hand, has a 48-megapixel main camera, a 48-megapixel ultrawide unit, and a 12-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (5x optical zoom).
The main camera sensors on the two phones are similar in terms of size. Both devices do a really good job with photos, though the results are different. Samsung’s images still look more processed, although Apple has been heading more and more in that direction. Both phones like brightening up the shadows during the day, even though the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s images do end up looking a bit more contrasty. The iPhone 16 Pro Max was more reliable for us in terms of balanced photos, for what it’s worth, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra was not far off.
Both ultrawide cameras do a good job, and keep a similar color profile to the main shooters. The results are notably different, though, as are with the main cameras. Something similar can be said for the telephoto cameras. This was a tossup between the two setups, as it all depended on what distance we were capturing. At times we preferred shots from the iPhone, but it was mostly from Samsung. Both devices also do a good job in low light and love to brighten up scenes, though Samsung more than Apple. That goes for all three cameras, by the way. The iPhone 16 Pro Max easily wins the video comparison.
Audio
Both of these smartphones include stereo speakers, and they’re really good on both ends. They’re loud enough, and the sound output is detailed enough. We did not notice noticeable distortion or anything like that.
There is no audio jack on either phone, but you can use their Type-C ports to connect your wired headphones. Alternatively, Bluetooth 5.3 is on offer for wireless audio connections… on both smartphones.
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