Lifeboat Foundation

For decades, scientists have tracked hints of a thread-like structure that ties together galaxies across the universe. Theories, computer models, and indirect observations have indicated that there is a cosmic web of dark matter that connects galaxies and constitutes the large-scale structure of the cosmos. But while the filaments that make up this web are massive, dark matter is incredibly difficult to observe.

Now, researchers have produced what they say is the first composite image of a dark matter filament that connects galaxies together.

“This image moves us beyond predictions to something we can see and measure,” said Mike Hudson, a professor of astronomy at the University of Waterloo in Canada, co-author of a new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Continue reading “Astronomers Capture the First ‘Image’ of the Dark Matter That Holds the Universe Together” »

A very popular theme during NASA’s “Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop” was the exploration of Titan. In addition to being the only other body in the Solar System with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere and visible liquid on its surface, it also has an environment rich in organic chemistry. For this reason, a team led by Michael Pauken (from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) held a presentation detailing the many ways it can be explored using aerial vehicles.

The presentation, which was titled “Science at a Variety of Scientific Regions at Titan using Aerial Platforms “, was also chaired by members of the aerospace industry – such as AeroVironment and Global Aerospace from Monrovia, California, and Thin Red Line Aerospace from Chilliwack, BC.

Together, they reviewed the various aerial platform concepts that have been proposed for Titan since 2004.

Israel’s oldest newspaper Haaretz (in #Hebrew) recently translated and published The New York Times Magazine feature story on my radical science and #transhumanism work in their own Sunday magazine. I can’t find the link in Hebrew yet, but here’s the fun 2-page spread of me atop my #ImmortalityBus. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/magazine/600-miles-in-a-c…tself.html

5:10–5:20 | Student Presentation: Mars Exploration Project student leaders from American Academy of Innovation, a 6–12 grade public charter school in South Jordan, Utah.

5:20–5:30 | An Update on United States Space Exploration Policy TBA.

This is what happens when the HoloLens meets the air traffic control industry.

Worlds first spherical display drone.

This is coolest looking thing I’ve seen today! 😲.

Google Earth’s new feature brings the entire planet to life.

Physicists at the University of California, Irvine and elsewhere have fabricated new two-dimensional quantum materials with breakthrough electrical and magnetic attributes that could make them building blocks of future quantum computers and other advanced electronics.

In three separate studies appearing this month in Nature, Science Advances and Nature Materials, UCI researchers and colleagues from UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Princeton University, Fudan University and the University of Maryland explored the physics behind the 2-D states of novel materials and determined they could push computers to new heights of speed and power.

The common threads running through the papers are that the research is conducted at extremely cold temperatures and that the signal carriers in all three studies are not electrons — as with traditional silicon-based technologies — but Dirac or Majorana fermions, particles without mass that move at nearly the speed of light.

Robots may soon be more sensitive than humans—at least when it comes to their skin. Researchers from Glasgow University have developed a type of artificial skin that is more sensitive than our own. Just add this to all the ways robots are taking over the world.

Related: A Robot Performed Soft-Tissue Surgery By Itself