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Jan 5, 2022

NASA Successfully Deployed the Sunshield on the James Webb Space Telescope

Posted by in categories: materials, space

The process took eight days to complete.

Five thin-as-human-hair plastic sheets coated with reflective material that will protect the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have now been successfully deployed, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) said in its press release.

Ever since its launch on Christmas Day, space enthusiasts were eager to know if the sunshield on the JWST that is designed to protect the sensitive instruments on board would be deployed to perfection. To rightfully take the place of the mighty Hubble, the JWST has to overcome its 344 potential points of failure, and deploying the sunshield is a major achievement.

Jan 5, 2022

A Company Is Taking on Tesla With Its Easy-Install Solar Roof Tiles

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

And it claims any roofer can install its new solar shingles.

GAF Energy, a division of roofing giant GAF, developed new solar shingles that are so easy to install no special equipment or knowledge is required, a TechCrunch report reveals.

The new accessible home renewable energy option provides serious competition for Tesla, who revealed their own new tiles with 22 percent more energy capacity last month.

Continue reading “A Company Is Taking on Tesla With Its Easy-Install Solar Roof Tiles” »

Jan 5, 2022

Super Fast Solid State Storage Has Finally Arrived

Posted by in categories: computing, electronics

The new SSDs have read/write speeds up to 14/12GBps.

For the first time in two years, XPG is on location in Las Vegas for the 2022 CES show, revealing ‘Dawn of a New Xtreme’. Under the new theme, the latest products from XPG and ADATA including gaming systems, peripherals, accessories, and components were unveiled. The highlight, however, is the PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express) 5.0 solid-state drives (SSD), the super-fast solid storage that is capable of read/write speeds up to 14/12GBps.

Twice as fast as the fastest PCIe 4.0 drives, Adata introduced two prototypes of its first PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 SSDs with capacities up to 8TB. The so-called Project Nighthawk SSD is designed using a Silicon Motion SM2508 controller capable of sequential read/write speeds up to 14/12GBps, while the Project Blackbird SSD features an InnoGrit IG5666 controller for 14/10GBps read/write speeds.

Jan 5, 2022

546-acre film studio expected to open in Bastrop in 2023

Posted by in category: futurism

The studio would reportedly bring millions of dollars to the Bastrop area.

Jan 5, 2022

NASA thrilled: Webb Space Telescope deploys sun shield, evades many potential ‘single-point failures’

Posted by in category: space

So far, so good for the revolutionary telescope that is heading toward deep space, but challenges remain.

Jan 5, 2022

Hackers breached Florida health care system, potentially exposing data on 1.3 million people

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, finance, health, law

Hackers breached the computer networks of a southeast Florida health care system in October and may have accessed sensitive personal and financial information on over 1.3 million people, the health care system announced this week.

Social Security numbers, patient medical history and bank account information are among the data that have been exposed in the breach of Broward Health, a network of over 30 health care facilities serving patients across roughly 2 million-person Broward County, Florida, according to a notice the health care provider filed with the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

About 470 of the data breach victims live in Maine. Like other states, Maine law requires organizations that hold state residents’ personal data to file a disclosure when they’ve been hacked.

Jan 5, 2022

Common antidepressant slashes risk of COVID death, study says

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, health, neuroscience

A cheap, widely available drug used to treat mental illness cuts both the risk of death from COVID-19 and the need for people with the disease to receive intensive medical care, according to clinical-trial results1. The drug, called fluvoxamine, is taken for conditions including depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. But it is also known to dampen immune responses and temper tissue damage, and researchers credit these properties with its success in the recent trial. Among study participants who took the drug as directed and did so in the early stages of the disease, COVID-19-related deaths fell by roughly 90% and the need for intensive COVID-19-related medical care fell by roughly 65%.


Study co-author Angela Reiersen, a psychiatrist at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri, has long been interested in using fluvoxamine to treat a rare genetic condition. While monitoring the fluvoxamine literature before the pandemic, she came across a 2019 study showing that fluvoxamine reduced inflammation in mice with sepsis2. When COVID-19 hit, “I immediately thought back to that paper with the mice,” she says.

Reiersen and her colleagues partnered with the organizers of the TOGETHER Trial, which aims to identify approved drugs that can be repurposed to treat COVID-19. The team’s study included 1,497 people in Brazil who had COVID-19 and were at high risk of severe disease. Roughly half received fluvoxamine, and the rest received a placebo.

Continue reading “Common antidepressant slashes risk of COVID death, study says” »

Jan 5, 2022

This is a Screen — And It Could be the Biggest Product Launch at CES 2022

Posted by in category: futurism

Samsung is letting users re-imagine what their spaces can be.

It’s not often that a tech company presents a consumer product that feels truly new, but Samsung might have done it.

It’s not the tech specs that make the company’s new Freestyle projector stand out. They’re good but not groundbreaking. What’s different about the product unveiled this evening at a keynote address in the Venitian hotel on the Las Vegas strip is — ahem — the vibe.

Continue reading “This is a Screen — And It Could be the Biggest Product Launch at CES 2022” »

Jan 5, 2022

Qualcomm Unveils Gambit to Build “Digital Chassis” for Self-Driving Cars

Posted by in categories: augmented reality, mobile phones, robotics/AI, transportation, virtual reality

It’s also building chips for Microsoft’s AR glasses.

At the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) currently taking place in Las Vegas, chip maker Qualcomm’s CEO Cristiano Amon announced several key new initiatives.

Continue reading “Qualcomm Unveils Gambit to Build ‘Digital Chassis’ for Self-Driving Cars” »

Jan 5, 2022

Space Station Astronauts Stay Fit With Floating Badminton Match

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, health, neuroscience

If you had a few hundred experiments to manage during your days in space, how would you blow off steam in your spare time?

A badminton match was the activity of choice for International Space Station astronauts and spaceflight participants during the holidays. You can catch a short video of the activities of several crew members of Expedition 66 below; make sure to rotate it so you can watch the crew members working in 360 degrees.

The module they are using is the Japanese Kibo module, which is a common location for crews to conduct press conferences. The Kibo module also has a little more space for physical activities than some of the other ones, especially since there are no laptops or delicate experiments crowding the walls.

Continue reading “Space Station Astronauts Stay Fit With Floating Badminton Match” »