The photos broke the record of the famous 1990 photo of the “Pale Blue Dot.”
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If humans are destined for deep space, they need to understand the space environment changes health, including aging and antibiotic resistance.
A new NASA project could help. It aims to develop technology used to study “omics”—fields of microbiology that are important to human health. Omics includes research into genomes, microbiomes and proteomes.
The Omics in Space project is being led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The project was recently funded by NASA’s Translational Research Institute for Space Health four years of study. Over that time, NASA hopes to develop 3D printable designs for instruments on the International Space Station (ISS), that can handle liquids like blood samples without spilling in microgravity. These tools could enable astronauts to analyze biological samples without sending them back to Earth.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for expanding scientific cooperation with other countries and establishing powerful international research centers in Russia.
“Of course, we were actively involved in preparations to set up these [international scientific] centers. We are currently working there, and working successfully,” he said at a meeting of the Council for Science and Education. “However, we need to establish such centers of our own.”
The president recalled the proposal to establish one of such centers in Novosibirsk. “I believe that’s the right idea,” he stressed. “We will be sure to think about this and implement this project.”
Putin added that Russia is involved in a number of international science projects, in particular, in the work of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, a thermonuclear reactor in France and a free-electron laser in Germany. According to the president, Russia as a participant in these projects has the right to use their results. “We must think how to use them [these results] effectively for the benefit of the development of the country, its economy and social sphere,” he stressed.
The latest sign of regulatory support comes two months after Beijing became the country’s first city to green light open road test for autonomous cars. The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, also unveiled a three-year plan in December, making the development of smart cars a national priority.
The latest sign of national regulatory support comes two months after Beijing became the country’s first city to green light open road test for self driving cars.
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Engineers at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) have found a way to make wood more than 10 times times stronger and tougher than before, creating a natural substance that is stronger than many titanium alloys.
“This new way to treat wood makes it 12 times stronger than natural wood and 10 times tougher,” said Liangbing Hu of UMD’s A. James Clark School of Engineering and the leader of the team that did the research, to be published on February 8, 2018 in the journal Nature. “This could be a competitor to steel or even titanium alloys, it is so strong and durable. It’s also comparable to carbon fiber, but much less expensive.” Hu is an associate professor of materials science and engineering and a member of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute.
“It is both strong and tough, which is a combination not usually found in nature,” said Teng Li, the co-leader of the team and Samuel P. Langley Associate Professor of mechanical engineering at UMD’s Clark School. His team measured the dense wood’s mechanical properties. “It is as strong as steel, but six times lighter. It takes 10 times more energy to fracture than natural wood. It can even be bent and molded at the beginning of the process.”
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