Page 9094
Nov 30, 2018
Infections could trigger cardiovascular disease
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: biotech/medical
New research examines the risk of heart attack and stroke after an infection, concluding that infections may trigger coronary events.
Nov 30, 2018
Syfy’s Nightflyers asks whether humanity deserves to be saved
Posted by Derick Lee in categories: bioengineering, genetics, neuroscience, space travel
Showrunner Jeff Buhler has built a fascinating world around Martin’s story seeds, starting by setting the action within the foreseeable future, rather than in an incomprehensibly distant one. The invented technologies here are particularly intriguing, like the genetic modifications first officer Melantha Jhirl (Jodie Turner-Smith) has to make her better suited for space travel, or the cybernetics technician Lommie (Maya Eshet) uses to interface with machinery. Given the state of real-world technological developments in genetic engineering and research into brain-machine interfaces, the series feels plausible and grounded, even though it’s set in a spacefaring future.
The 10-episode space series adapts a 40-year-old George R.R. Martin novella.
Continue reading “Syfy’s Nightflyers asks whether humanity deserves to be saved” »
Nov 29, 2018
Scientists Discover a “Ghost of a Galaxy” Orbiting the Milky Way
Posted by Michael Lance in category: space
It’s both massive and extremely diffuse.
The “oddball” satellite has astronomers wondering what else they’re missing.
Nov 29, 2018
Level 2 initiated: 3D-printing is nominal
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: 3D printing, robotics/AI
AI SpaceFactory has initiated printing of NASA Construction Level 2. 3D-printing process proceeding as planned. Due to technical issues live-streaming of the event was disconnected. Updates will be provided throughout the day.
Nov 29, 2018
NASA opens $2.6 billion in contract services for Moon to Mars missions
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: policy, space travel
“We are going,” is an important part NASA’s motto for its return to the Moon, and to get there, the space agency will need corporate partners. As part of carrying out the private sector integration requirements of White House Space Policy Directive 1, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced today at 2 pm EST the nine companies the agency has selected to compete for $2.6 billion in contracts to support its Moon to Mars mission. These contracts will be geared to filling the needs of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program over the next ten years of its development.
Nov 29, 2018
Machine learning, meet quantum computing
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: military, quantum physics, robotics/AI
Back in 1958, in the earliest days of the computing revolution, the US Office of Naval Research organized a press conference to unveil a device invented by a psychologist named Frank Rosenblatt at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory. Rosenblatt called his device a perceptron, and the New York Times reported that it was “the embryo of an electronic computer that [the Navy] expects will be able to walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself, and be conscious of its existence.”
Nov 29, 2018
MIT Studies Micro-Impacts at 100 Million Frames Per Second
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: particle physics, space travel
Engineers know that tiny, super-fast objects can cause damage to spacecraft, but it’s been difficult to understand exactly how the damage happens because the moment of impact is incredibly brief. A new study from MIT seeks to reveal the processes at work that produce microscopic craters and holes in materials. The hope is that by understanding how the impacts work, we might be able to more durable materials.
Accidental space impacts aren’t the only place these mechanisms come into play. There are also industrial applications on Earth like applying coatings, strengthening metallic surfaces, and cutting materials. A better understanding of micro-impacts could also make these processes more efficient. Observing such impacts was not easy, though.
For the experiments, the MIT team used tin particles about 10 micrometers in diameter accelerated to 1 kilometer per second. They used a laser system to launch the projectile that instantly evaporates a surface material and ejects the particles, ensuring consistent timing. That’s important because the high-speed camera pointed at the test surface (also tin) needed specific lighting conditions. At the appointed time, a second laser illuminated the particle allowing the camera to follow the impact at up to 100 million frames per second.
Continue reading “MIT Studies Micro-Impacts at 100 Million Frames Per Second” »
Nov 29, 2018
The man who built ‘Star Wars’ droid BB-8 has created a giant rideable robot spider — here it is in action
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: robotics/AI
Animatronics engineer Matt Denton has worked on some pretty mindblowing projects. He’s built special effects robots for “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter,” and “Jurassic World.”
But his latest project may just be his most ambitious yet. Denton has created a huge, six-legged driveable robot that has been compared to a spider. And it’s won him a Guinness World Record.