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Jun 3, 2023

Watch SpaceX launch Dragon cargo mission to space station Sunday after one-day delay

Posted by in category: space travel

Updated on June 3: SpaceX has delayed the launch of its CRS-28 cargo mission to no earlier than Sunday, June 4, at 12:12 p.m. EDT (1612 GMT) due to bad weather and vehicle checks.

SpaceX will launch its 28th cargo mission to the International Space Station for NASA Sunday (June 4) after a one-day weather delay and you can watch the action live.

Jun 3, 2023

New Discovery Challenges Fundamental Beliefs of Astronomy: Giant Arc of Galaxies Spanning 3.3 Billion Light-Years Discovered

Posted by in categories: cosmology, mapping

A recently discovered formation of galaxies spanning 3.3 billion light-years is one of the largest known structures in the universe, contradicting some of the most fundamental beliefs of astronomers about the cosmos. The Giant Arc is composed of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and a significant amount of gas and dust. It is located 9.2 billion light-years away and covers approximately one-fifteenth of the visible universe.

The discovery was “fortuitous,” according to Alexia Lopez, a doctoral candidate in cosmology at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in the United Kingdom. Lopez was creating maps of the night sky using light from around 120,000 quasars, which are the bright centres of galaxies where supermassive black holes consume matter and generate energy.

By measuring magnesium’s imprints, Lopez could calculate the distance to the intervening gas and dust, as well as the composition of the substance. The quasars were used as “spotlights in a dark room,” illuminating the intervening matter, according to Lopez. A structure began to emerge in the middle of the cosmic maps, a massive arc that was an indication of the Giant Arc.

Jun 3, 2023

Life in a Space Colony, ep1: Extraterrestrial Colonies

Posted by in category: space travel

This episode begins a three-part series focusing more on the specifics of colonization including the human aspect of it. We lay the groundwork by looking at colonies just in our solar system before moving off in episodes two and three to look at life on colony ships and then on interstellar colonies.

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Jun 3, 2023

Life in a Space Colony, ep3: Early Interstellar Colonies

Posted by in category: space travel

This episode concludes a three-part series focusing more on the specifics of colonization including the human aspect of it. Today we journey to the Tau Ceti System after a 120 year voyage to join our colonists in the early days of the colony.

Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
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Listen or Download the audio of this episode from Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/isaac-arthur-148927746/life-in-a-space-colony-episode-3
Cover Art by Jakub Grygier: https://www.artstation.com/artist/jakub_grygier

Jun 3, 2023

Colonizing Cislunar Space and the Lagrange Points

Posted by in category: space travel

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To travel to other planets, we will first have to build up are infrastructure closer to home, in orbit of Earth. The best place to get all the mass for those space stations and rocket fuel depots is from the Moon, and we’ll examine the milestones we’ll need to reach to start lunar resource harvesting and building up space settlements.

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Jun 3, 2023

Satellite Beams Solar Power Down to Earth Using Microwave Transmitter

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Scientists say they’ve successfully transmitted solar energy gathered in orbit down to the Earth’s surface.

Jun 3, 2023

Alzheimer’s: New blood biomarker may predict risk of cognitive decline

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

A new study suggests that astrocytes, a type of brain cell, are important for connecting amyloid-β with the early stages of tau pathology, which could change how we define early Alzheimer’s disease.

Jun 3, 2023

Read the poem NASA is sending to Europa next year

Posted by in category: space

Ada Limón’s new poem connects Earth and the watery world.

Jun 3, 2023

Discovery challenges 30-year-old dogma in associative polymers research

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, chemistry

A University of Virginia-led study about a class of materials called associative polymers appears to challenge a long-held understanding of how the materials, which have unique self-healing and flow properties, function at the molecular level.

Liheng Cai, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering and chemical engineering at UVA, who led the study, said the new discovery has important implications for the countless ways these materials are used every day, from engineering recyclable plastics to human tissue engineering to controlling the consistency of paint so it doesn’t drip.

The discovery, which has been published in the journal Physical Review Letters, was enabled by new associative polymers developed in Cai’s lab at the UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science by his postdoctoral researcher Shifeng Nian and Ph.D. student Myoeum Kim. The breakthrough evolved from a theory Cai had co-developed before arriving at UVA in 2018.

Jun 3, 2023

Engineering the bacteriophage T4 to serve as a vector for molecular repair

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

A team of medical scientists at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C., working with a colleague from Purdue University, has developed a way to engineer the bacteriophage T4 to serve as a vector for molecular repair. The study is reported in the journal Nature Communications.

Prior research has shown that many human ailments arise due to : , Down syndrome, and hemophilia are just a few. Logic suggests that correcting such genetic mutations could cure these diseases. So researchers have been working toward developing gene editing tools that will allow for safe editing of genes.

One of the most promising is the CRISPR gene editing system. In this new effort, the research team took a more general approach to solving the problem by working to develop a vector that could be used to carry different kinds of tools to targeted cells and then enter them to allow for healing work to commence.