A spy presses a button on their suit and blinks out of sight. A wizard wraps himself in a cloak and disappears. A star pilot flicks a switch, and their ship vanishes into space. Invisibility is one of the most tantalizing powers in fiction, spanning all kinds of stories. But could this fantasy ever become a reality? Max G. Levy digs into the technologies that could make invisibility possible.
Lesson by Max G. Levy, directed by Michalis Kalopaidis, Zedem Media.
To be fair, SPHEREx won’t rival the JWST’s ability to observe highly localized regions of the universe that are confined to the infrared section of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, unlike the JWST, it is an all-sky survey. Whereas the $10 billion JWST is great at observing things like specific nebulas and relatively narrow but tremendously dimensional deep fields, SPHEREx is intended to image the entire sky as seen from Earth.
“We are literally mapping the entire celestial sky in 102 infrared colors for the first time in humanity’s history, and we will see that every six months,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “This has not been done before on this level of color resolution for our old sky maps.”
Credits: Self-Growing Habitats & Space Bases. Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur. Episode 337; April 7, 2022 Produced, Written, and Narrated by Isaac Arthur.
MIT scientists are building ElectroVoxels, small, smart, self-assembling robots designed for space.
It’s programmable matter, infinitely recyclable large-scale 3D printing, if you will, and it could be the future of robotics and machinery in space. In this TechFirst, I chat with MIT PhD student Martin Nisser.
Join this channel to get access to perks: / @isaacarthursfia. Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net. Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur. Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur. Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 Reddit: / isaacarthur Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord Credits: Space Habitats Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur Episode 384, March 2, 2023 Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur Editors: Briana Brownell David McFarlane Graphics by: Apogii.uk Cameron Scott Jarred Eagley Jeremy Jozwik Neil Blevins Katie Byrne Ken York Rapid Thrash Steve Bowers Udo Schroeter Music Courtesy of Markus Junnikkala, “Plotting a Course”, “We Roam the Stars” Stellardrone, “Red Giant”, “Between the Rings” Miguel Johsnon, “Far From Home”, “So Many Stars” Aerium, “Fifth Star of Aldebaran“ Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264 Reddit: / isaacarthur. Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Credits: Space Habitats. Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur. Episode 384, March 2, 2023 Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur.
The idea of traveling through interstellar space using spacecraft propelled by ultrathin sails may sound like the stuff of sci-fi novels. But in fact, a program started in 2016 by Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner, known as the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, has been exploring the idea. The concept is to use lasers to propel miniature space probes attached to “lightsails” to reach ultrafast speeds and eventually our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.
Caltech is leading the worldwide community working toward achieving this audacious goal.
“The lightsail will travel faster than any previous spacecraft, with potential to eventually open interstellar distances to direct spacecraft exploration that are now only accessible by remote observation,” explains Harry Atwater, the Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science and the Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at Caltech.
Using the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Apache Point Observatory (APO), an international team of astronomers has detected 19 pulsation modes in an ultra-massive white dwarf known as WD J0135+5722. The discovery, presented on the arXiv preprint server, makes WD J0135+5722 the richest pulsating ultra-massive white dwarf known to date.
White dwarfs (WDs) are stellar cores left behind after a star has exhausted its nuclear fuel. Due to their high gravity, they are known to have atmospheres of either pure hydrogen or pure helium. However, a small fraction of WDs shows traces of heavier elements.
In pulsating WDs, luminosity varies due to non-radial gravity wave pulsations within these objects. One subtype of pulsating WDs is known as DAVs, or ZZ Ceti stars—these are WDs of spectral type DA, having only hydrogen absorption lines in their spectra.
Scientists have studied the moon’s surface for decades to help piece together its complex geological and evolutionary history. Evidence from the lunar maria (dark, flat areas on the moon filled with solidified lava) suggested that the moon experienced significant compression in its distant past. Researchers suspected that large, arching ridges on the moon’s near side were formed by contractions that occurred billions of years ago—concluding that the moon’s maria has remained dormant ever since.
However, a new study reveals that what lies beneath the lunar surface may be more dynamic than previously believed. Two Smithsonian Institution scientists and a University of Maryland geologist discovered that small ridges located on the moon’s far side were notably younger than previously studied ridges on the near side. Their findings were published in The Planetary Science Journal on January 21, 2025.
“Many scientists believe that most of the moon’s geological movements happened two and a half, maybe three billion years ago,” said Jaclyn Clark, an assistant research scientist in UMD’s Department of Geology. “But we’re seeing that these tectonic landforms have been recently active in the last billion years and may still be active today. These small mare ridges seem to have formed within the last 200 million years or so, which is relatively recent considering the moon’s timescale.”
