The full-scale test will last more than 2 minutes.
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Category: futurism – Page 1,096
Seismologists find possible early warning sign of a pending megaquake
May 29 (UPI) — Geologists have found a possible early signature of massive earthquakes. New research suggests the telltale seismic pattern shows up between 10 seconds and 15 seconds into a seismic event.
Scientists discovered the warning sign after analyzing GPS records of peak ground displacement during dozens of earthquakes. The analysis of several GPS databases revealed a point in time when the beginnings of an earthquake takes the form of a “slip pulse,” the mechanical functions of which scale with magnitude.
The discovery, published this week in the journal Science Advances, allowed scientists to differentiate between small- to medium-sized earthquakes and large to extra-large quakes.
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Momentum Grows for Nuclear Thermal Space Propulsion
PASADENA, Calif. — With congressional funding and industry support, nuclear thermal propulsion technology is making progress for potential use on future NASA deep space missions, although how it fits into the agency’s exploration architectures remains uncertain.
The House Appropriations Committee approved May 22 a commerce, justice and science (CJS) appropriations bill that offers $22.3 billion for NASA. That funding includes $125 million for nuclear thermal propulsion development within the agency’s space technology program, compared to an administration request for no funding.
“The bill’s investment in nuclear thermal propulsion is critical as NASA works towards the design of a flight demonstration by 2024,” said Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), ranking member of the CJS appropriations subcommittee, during that subcommittee’s markup of the bill May 17. He offered similar comments in support of that project at the full committee markup.
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City of the Future: Seven new facilities that will redefine the communities we live in
Great communities are founded on great ideas. At the same time, our most admired communities become a magnet, attracting the brightest minds. The relational effect is clear: Bright minds make a community great, and great communities attract bright minds.
In the future, communities will be designed around ways to stimulate new ideas using such things as creative environments, imagination sparkers, and inspirational architecture.
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Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future
Projects based on the elimination of trust have failed to capture customers’ interest because trust is actually so damn valuable. A lawless and mistrustful world where self-interest is the only principle and paranoia is the only source of safety is a not a paradise but a crypto-medieval hellhole.
Its failure to achieve adoption to date is because systems built on trust, norms, and institutions inherently function better than the type of no-need-for-trusted-parties systems blockchain envisions. That’s permanent: no matter how much blockchain improves it is still headed in the wrong direction.
This December I wrote a w idel y–ci rc ul ated article on the inapplicability of blockchain to any actual problem. People objected mostly not to the technology argument, but rather hoped that decentralization could produce integrity.
Let’s start with this: Venmo is a free service to transfer dollars, and bitcoin transfers are not free. Yet after I wrote an article last December saying bitcoin had no use, someone responded that Venmo and Paypal are raking in consumers’ money and people should switch to bitcoin.
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Go running over cycling to avoid brittle bones, men told
Men should favour weight lifting and running over cycling in order to preserve their bones, scientists have said after a study suggested brittle bone disorders are more common than previously thought.
Scientists measuring the bone density of men and women between the ages of 35 and 50 found 28 per cent of men showed precursor signs of osteoporosis, compared to 26 per cent of women.
The results are surprising because the debilitating condition, which affects around three million people in the UK, is more commonly associated with women than men.
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