Lifeboat News: The Blog – Safeguarding Humanity

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Jun 26
2019

International Space Station Will Test 3D-Printed Materials In Orbit

New 3D-printed materials are going to space thanks to a recently funded partnership between Israel’s NanoDimension and Florida’s Harris Corp.

The companies plan to create new materials to reduce the manufacturing of small satellites, an exceedingly popular market right now for applications ranging from weather observations to remote surveillance.

They aim to fly their materials on an external platform of the International Space Station for a year. The goal is to better understand how 3D-printed components (such as circuits and materials) withstand the space environment, which includes extreme temperature swings and high radiation. The launch date of the project was not disclosed.

Jun 26
2019

Study: Sperm Banks in Space Could Make Colonizing Mars Possible

A new study by researchers from the Dexeus Women’s Health research network in Barcelona found that frozen sperm samples survived when exposed to microgravity.

That could mean that sperm banks in space are possible, providing future space travelers with the ability to reproduce in space with sperm samples brought up from Earth.

“Some studies suggest a significant decrease in the motility of a human, fresh sperm sample,” Montserrat Boada who presented the research yesterday at an annual meeting in Vienna, Austria, said, as quoted by The Guardian. “But nothing has been reported on the possible effects of gravitational differences on frozen human gametes, in which state they could be transported from Earth to space.”

Jun 26
2019

Baldness breakthrough uses 3D-printed “hair farms” to grow new hair follicles

An exciting breakthrough from Columbia University researchers demonstrates a new way to grow human hair follicles using 3D printed molds. This is the first time human hair follicle cells have been grown completely in lab conditions, opening up a potentially unlimited source of hair follicles for future hair restoration surgical procedures.

Jun 26
2019

Oculus Quest: Virtually reality goes wireless, but at a what cost?

We get hands-on with the latest VR headset from Oculus and find out whether six degrees of freedom is enough to justify the price tag.

Jun 26
2019

RETro propulsion Assisted Landing Technologies

Jun 26
2019

The NASA Orbiter That Turned Lunar Science On Its Head

Now ten years into its mission and counting, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has pretty much turned lunar science on its head.

Jun 26
2019

D-Wave promises chip that could search the whole universe

1k-qubit chip late, still controversial.

Jun 26
2019

The Strong Force Is What’s Holding the Entire Universe Together

Particle physicists might seem like a dry bunch, but they have their fun. Why else would there be such a thing as a “strange quark”? When it comes to the fundamental nuclear forces, though, they don’t mess around: the strongest force in nature is known simply as the “strong force,” and it’s the force that literally holds existence together.

Jun 26
2019

WMAP- Content of the Universe

Public access site for The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and associated information about cosmology.

Jun 26
2019

It took centuries, but we now know the size of the Universe

We can never see these more distant regions. Still, the observable Universe alone should be big enough for most people. Indeed, for scientists like Casey and Sheth, it remains a constant source of fascination.

We’re not even at the centre of our Solar System or at the centre of our galaxy

“Everything that we’ve learned about the Universe – how big it is, all the amazing objects that are in it – we do that simply by collecting these photons of light that have travelled millions and millions of light years only to come and die on our detectors, our cameras or radio telescopes,” says Sheth.