Toggle light / dark theme

NASA’s Parker Probe Just Dived Into the Sun’s Atmosphere and Solved a Fiery Solar Mystery

The ‘helicity barrier’ has been directly confirmed, offering new insights into the heating and formation of the solar wind. Scientists have long been puzzled by an unusual solar mystery: the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona, is vastly hotter than the surface below it. Adding to the intrigu

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the historical Apollo-Sojuz Rendezvous, 17 July 1975

Space Renaissance International (SRI) wants to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the historical Apollo-Sojuz Rendezvous, occurred the 17 July 1975!

During the cold war age, American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts gave a beautiful example of friendship and collaboration. Space culture demonstrated to be very much higher than terrestrial warmongering attitude! And such a distinctive cultural tract was demonstrated even later, with the MIR space station and then the ISS. Up to our present days, when the need of an higher Peace Culture is more urgent than ever.

Bernard Foing (SRI President), Jerry Stone, Werner Grandl, Marie-Luise Heuser, and others, will celebrate and share their thoughts about this historical Anniversary.

SRI invites All to celebrate with us!

Reconstructing a Five-Star Smashup

A detailed analysis of a stellar cluster has led to a possible explanation for several fast-moving runaway stars around the cluster.

The “altercation” happened 50,000 years ago: The binary star Mel 34 was ejected from a young star cluster at a speed of 100,000 mph (46 km/s)—the result of a violent interaction that seemed buried in the cosmic past. But a group of astronomy detectives has now reconstructed part of the cluster’s history and identified a five-star smashup as the most likely cause for Mel 34’s high-speed departure [1]. This unlikely collision offers important information about the fate of young, massive stars.

The star cluster R136 is a grouping of around 60,000 stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy 160,000 light-years from Earth. The cluster is about 2 million years old, which is fairly young as clusters go. “R136 is very special because it’s the youngest and the most massive star cluster in the local group of galaxies,” says Simon Portegies Zwart from Leiden University in the Netherlands. Previous studies of R136 have identified several dozen “runaway” stars that have been kicked out of the cluster. Runaways are common around clusters, but their origins are not always clear. R136 is young, so it’s a good place to study the process that produces runaways, Portegies Zwart says.

Quantum networks of clocks open the door to probe how quantum theory and curved space-time intertwine

Quantum networking is being rapidly developed world-wide. It is a key quantum technology that will enable a global quantum internet: the ability to deploy secure communication at scale, and to connect quantum computers globally. The race to realize this vision is in full swing, both on Earth and in space.

New research, in collaboration between Igor Pikovski at Stevens Institute of Technology, Jacob Covey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Johannes Borregaard at Harvard University, suggests that are more versatile than previously thought.

In the paper titled “Probing Curved Spacetime with a Distributed Atomic Processor Clock”, published in the journal PRX Quantum, the researchers show that this technology can probe how curved space-time affects —a first test of this kind.

Research shows path toward protocells on Saturn’s moon Titan

NASA research has shown that cell-like compartments called vesicles could form naturally in the lakes of Saturn’s moon Titan.

Titan is the only world apart from Earth that is known to have liquid on its surface. However, Titan’s lakes and seas are not filled with water. Instead, they contain liquid hydrocarbons like ethane and methane.

On Earth, is thought to have been essential for the origin of life as we know it. Many astrobiologists have wondered whether Titan’s liquids could also provide an environment for the formation of the molecules required for life—either as we know it or perhaps as we don’t know it—to take hold there.

“These Colossal Structures Defy Imagination”: Astronomers Confirm Quipu’s Staggering 1.3-Billion-Light-Year Width, Making It the Largest Known Entity in the Universe

IN A NUTSHELL 🌌 The Quipu superstructure, spanning over 1.3 billion light-years, is the largest known entity in the universe. 🔭 Astronomers utilize X-ray galaxy clusters to map and analyze these massive cosmic formations. 📊 The immense size of superstructures like Quipu can distort critical cosmological measurements, affecting our understanding of the universe’s expansion. ⏳

Astronomers find a giant hiding in the ‘fog’ around a young star

Astronomers have detected a giant exoplanet—between three and ten times the size of Jupiter—hiding in the swirling disk of gas and dust surrounding a young star.

Earlier observations of this star, called MP Mus, suggested that it was all alone without any planets in orbit around it, surrounded by a featureless cloud of gas and dust.

However, a second look at MP Mus, using a combination of results from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, suggest that the star is not alone after all.

Figure AI founder Brett Adcock says there will soon be as many humanoid robots as humans

Other major players in the humanoid robot space include Tesla, which has Optimus, a 5-foot-8 humanoid robot that can dance, clean, and take out the trash. The company is working to deploy its first fleet in its factories by the year’s end. Boston Dynamics has Atlas, which can run, crawl, break dance, and do cartwheels. Agility Robotics has Digit, which Amazon once tested in its warehouses, though the e-commerce giant now uses its own set of in-house, non-humanoid robots designed by Amazon Robotics.

Many of these humanoid machines move with fluidity, exhibiting a suite of motor skills that allow them to augment the human labor force. Figure says its mission is to “develop general-purpose humanoids that make a positive impact on humanity and create a better life for future generations,” especially ones that can “eliminate the need for unsafe and undesirable jobs — ultimately allowing us to live happier, more purposeful lives.”

The company already has robots mingling with humans at its offices, asking employees if they want water or coffee, or simply patrolling the premises, he said. So, it’s not hard to imagine a time when “you’ll see as many humanoid robots as you see humans,” he said. “It’s literally going to feel like a sci-fi movie.”