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Dec 14, 2021

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Is Going to Start Sucking CO2 Out of the Air and Turning It Into Rocket Fuel

Posted by in categories: economics, Elon Musk, space travel, sustainability

SpaceX is embarking on a bold new adventure: making rocket fuel out of thin air.

“SpaceX is starting a program to take CO2 out of atmosphere & turn it into rocket fuel,” CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Monday. “Please join if interested.”

Continue reading “Elon Musk Says SpaceX Is Going to Start Sucking CO2 Out of the Air and Turning It Into Rocket Fuel” »

Dec 14, 2021

Tech Bro Thinks He’s Close to Cheating Death

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

A stem cell researcher who founded his startup with the psychedelic-loving German billionaire Christian Angermayer, Peyer believes that aging is a disease that humans can fight with pharmaceuticals. He plans to prove it first by identifying disorders and diseases that mimic aging, such as those that cause loss of muscle mass, and then partner with researchers studying medicines for said diseases.


A bold proposal: that by 2050, a 70-year-old will look and feel like they’re 50.

That’s the gamble that 35-year-old James Peyer is taking with this Cambrian Biopharma “longevity startup,” the Times of London reports.

Continue reading “Tech Bro Thinks He’s Close to Cheating Death” »

Dec 14, 2021

Why will it take China’s Yutu 2 moon rover so long to reach lunar ‘mystery hut’?

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, solar power, space, sustainability

Complex terrain and Yutu 2’s reliance on solar power limit driving speed.


China’s Yutu 2 lunar rover recently spotted something intriguing on the far side of the moon, but it’ll take the vehicle a few months to reach the object for a closer look.

Yutu 2 photographed a strangely cube-shaped rock last month, during the robot’s 36th lunar day of activities. The rover drive team estimates that the object, which has been dubbed the “mystery hut,” to be around 260 feet (80 meters) away. That doesn’t sound far, but it’ll take careful planning and effort by the Yutu 2 team to cover that distance safely.

Dec 14, 2021

This Is the Robotic Hand That Could Finally Take Over Your Job

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

I’ve seen better. But, always worth a look, for robotics people. We need some DARPA challenge thing for robotic hands.


It’s delicate enough to shake a friend’s hand, but powerful enough to crush its enemies.

Continue reading “This Is the Robotic Hand That Could Finally Take Over Your Job” »

Dec 14, 2021

Artificial intelligence that can discover hidden physical laws in data

Posted by in categories: information science, physics, robotics/AI, sustainability

Researchers at Kobe University and Osaka University have successfully developed artificial intelligence technology that can extract hidden equations of motion from regular observational data and create a model that is faithful to the laws of physics.

This technology could enable researchers to discover the hidden equations of motion behind for which the laws were considered unexplainable. For example, it may be possible to use physics-based knowledge and simulations to examine ecosystem sustainability.

The research group consisted of Associate Professor YAGUCHI Takaharu and Ph.D. student CHEN Yuhan (Graduate School of System Informatics, Kobe University), and Associate Professor MATSUBARA Takashi (Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University).

Dec 14, 2021

US 5th Fleet tests new USV in Jordan

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

One of the Saildrone Explorer USVs Task Force 59 is testing in the Gulf of Aqaba. (US Naval Forces Central Command/US 5th Fleet)

The US Navy’s 5th Fleet is testing a Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel (USV) at Jordan’s Aqaba Naval Base.

Dec 14, 2021

Ancient Greek drug could cut COVID-19 deaths

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

An ancient Greek drug derived from the saffron plant could improve the treatment of people with severe COVID-19 and reduce the COVID mortality rate by as much as 50%, according to a report published earlier this month in the European Journal of Internal Medicine by an Israeli researcher from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Medical School.

The drug, colchicine, dates back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, where it was known for its special healing properties. It is one of a few medicines that survived until modern times. Most recently, it has been used to treat and prevent inflammation caused by gout that can lead to painful arthritis and Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), which is common among Jewish people of North African descent.


Prof. Ami Schattner researched and analyzed all patients treated in controlled trials of this ancient drug for the past 20 years. He found that among its uses and potential uses, colchicine also appears effective in treating COVID-19.

Continue reading “Ancient Greek drug could cut COVID-19 deaths” »

Dec 14, 2021

Quantum-circuit black hole lasers

Posted by in categories: cosmology, information science, quantum physics

A black hole laser in analogues of gravity amplifies Hawking radiation, which is unlikely to be measured in real black holes, and makes it observable. There have been proposals to realize such black hole lasers in various systems. However, no progress has been made in electric circuits for a long time, despite their many advantages such as high-precision electromagnetic wave detection. Here we propose a black hole laser in Josephson transmission lines incorporating metamaterial elements capable of producing Hawking-pair propagation modes and a Kerr nonlinearity due to the Josephson nonlinear inductance. A single dark soliton obeying the nonlinear Schrödinger equation produces a black hole-white hole horizon pair that acts as a laser cavity through a change in the refractive index due to the Kerr effect.

Dec 14, 2021

NASA craft ‘touches’ sun for 1st time, dives into atmosphere

Posted by in category: space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft has officially “touched” the sun, plunging through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona.

Scientists announced the news Tuesday during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The Parker Solar Probe actually flew through the corona in April during the spacecraft’s eighth close approach to the sun. Scientists said it took a few months to get the data back and then several more months to confirm.

Dec 14, 2021

Ground-State Entanglement gives birth to Quantum Energy Teleportation

Posted by in categories: energy, quantum physics

Circa 2009 real teleportation not just in the quantum realm.


Ground-state entanglement induces emergence of negative-energy-density regions in quantum systems by squeezing zero-point oscillation, keeping total energy of the systems nonnegative. By use of the negativity of quantum energy density, protocols of quantum energy teleportation are proposed that transport energy to distant sites by local operations and classical communication. The energy is teleported without breaking any physical laws including causality and local energy conservation. Because intermediate subsystems of the energy transfer channel are not excited during the protocol execution, the protocol attains energy transportation without heat generation in the channel. We discuss the protocol focusing around qubit chains. In addition, we address a related problem of breaking ground-state entanglement by measurements.