Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: futurism – Page 647

This rover has moves that could take over a dance floor. A new video shows a simulator known as the Ground Test Model doing a sort of zombie walk over Martian-like terrain, to test out techniques for a future Mars missions.

“The rover initially has its front two wheels almost completely buried in sand, but easily escapes using its unique wheel-walking mode,” the European Space Agency said in a statement of the testing at Thales Alenia Space facilities in Turin, Italy, noting that the 6-foot drive took about 20 minutes to accomplish.

“The back wheels drag once the front four wheels have gained good traction on firmer terrain. The reason is that the wheel-walking sequence tested here has rather been optimized for climbing steep slopes with loose soils,” ESA added of the sequence.

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Check your refrigerator for fully cooked ham and pepperoni products from Alexander & Hornung. The Michigan-based company is recalling the products because of possible exposure to Listeria monocytogenes.

The recall was announced Sunday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

Alexander & Hornung, which is also a unit of Perdue Premium Meat Co., Inc., said it has voluntarily recalled 234,391 pounds of 17 processed meat products.

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Looking for science fiction books to read? Here are my reviews of some excellent science fiction novels (more to come as well). I encourage you to utilize my reviews to help inform your decisions about your next literary adventure!

PDF version: Science Fiction Book Reviews – Logan Thrasher Collins

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: 98/100. Much of the essence of art is to reflect what makes us human, helping us better explain to ourselves what makes us tick. Station Eleven is a science fiction novel about a deadly flu pandemic which brings about the end of the world. Notably, it was written several years prior to the emergence of COVID-19. Emily St. John Mandel wields the premise masterfully to touch our souls and help us come to terms with human kindness, cruelty, hope, and vulnerability. Through its deep tragedy and heartfelt characters, the book manages to link questions of the individual and the global. We take a hard look at how the meaning of civilization connects to the meaning of life. Emily St. John Mandel’s prose puts billions to death. Those who survive must find purpose against the backdrop of the visceral viciousness of the apocalypse.

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Researchers have developed a prototype lithium-ion battery that uses water as an electrolytic solution. The water replaces a flammable organic solvent.

The good news, according to the team of scientists, is that their prototype is durable, can be quickly recharged, and is free from the risk of catching fire. (Just a reminder that gasoline in ICE cars is flammable, folks.)

In the abstract published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the abstract states that the prototype achieves “higher ionic conductivity, environmental benignancy, and high safety.”

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