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Mar 25, 2016

NASA to use the ISS as a testbed for inflatable living modules

Posted by in category: space travel

NASA, perhaps more than anyone else, knows that there’s only so much room for packing stuff onto a spacecraft. That’s why it’s testing expandable living modules on the International Space Station prior to sending them to Mars for work and living spaces. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module will ride along in an upcoming SpaceX Dragon resupply mission to the ISS and from there will be unpacked and attached to the side of the station.

After that it’ll be filled with air to expand from just over five feet in depth and almost eight in diameter to 12 feet deep and over 10 feet in diameter and have its pressure equalized with the rest of the station. In the video below, NASA says that it’s all going to be done pretty slowly given that it’s the first experiment of its kind.

The BEAM needs to prove its mettle against cosmic radiation, durability and long-term leak performance prior to going into deep space, however. Before the expandable spaces go near the red planet, they’ll have to survive two years on the ISS with crew members poking and prodding it for the aforementioned reasons. The video below is a rendering, and admittedly moves along much faster than NASA says the installation process will actually go, but it should give you an idea of what the ISS will look like when the bolt-on test module is in place.

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Mar 25, 2016

To the Moon! NASA Contest Kick-Starts Innovative Space Tech

Posted by in categories: innovation, space travel

Startup NASA’s “Space Race” program will let companies vie to commercialize space exploration tech.

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Mar 25, 2016

Harvard University Unveils Plans for Its Science and Engineering Center — By John Gendall | Architectural Digest

Posted by in categories: architecture, science

harvard-university-plans-science-engineering-center-01

“Once a quaint academic village on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard, like so many other research universities, has transformed itself into a vast 21st-century institution whose significant landholdings are developed on a larger, urban scale. Part of this evolution has involved an expansion across the Charles, into the Allston area of Boston.”

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Mar 25, 2016

Move over batteries, Dye Solar Cells are coming

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

New miniature sized dye solar cell technology developed by an Israeli company can be installed onto devices and charge them with indirect light, making batteries obsolete. Sharon Reich reports.

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Mar 25, 2016

Bladeless Turbines? Say Hello To Vortex Wobble Technology

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Vortex is a bladeless, wind-powered generator prototype that produces electricity with minimal moving parts and leaves a minuscule footprint. To top it off, it makes almost no sound. The design aims to reduce both visual and aural impact of traditional bladed turbines, and utilizes the power within swirling vortices of air.

There are many people using standard wind turbines who find them to be problematic. Bladed wind turbines are dangerous to birds, they are incredibly noisy, and their gigantic size makes commercial use a property allowance issue as well. These concerns might be excuses for those who prefer old-aged electricity, but they hold truth to them and these reasons might be holding back the universal acceptance of standard turbines. This is where Vortex finds itself with the upper hand. The unit is much more compact than windmills, and uses the natural currents of wind to move a series of magnets located within its base to generate electricity.

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Mar 25, 2016

The software used to animate Studio Ghibli films and Futurama is going open source

Posted by in category: entertainment

And soon you can download it: http://www.toonzpremium.com/#!news/aawrs

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Mar 25, 2016

Google AI Watches The Matrix

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, robotics/AI

Deep Dream watches The Matrix red pill blue pill scene and looks like an LSD trip.

Google Deep Dream Neural Network Software watches the matrix red pill and blue pill scene. Please take into consideration the growing speed of neural networks and their potential to invent themselves. Soon this technology may grow too big to control. Ban it in your country to keep pandoras box out of the hand of the rich and greedy.

http://facebook.com/scionist

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Mar 25, 2016

Scientists plan to capture the first picture of a black hole’s Event Horizon, the point of no return

Posted by in category: cosmology

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Mar 25, 2016

Vision Through Artificial Intelligence

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, robotics/AI

Aipoly helps the blind and visually impaired see the world through their smartphone.

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Mar 25, 2016

Thanks to NASA, We Can Now Use Plasma to Print Nanoelectronics

Posted by in category: nanotechnology

A team of researchers has developed a plasma-based, nozzle technique for printing nanomaterials. It’s cheaper and easier than previous methods, and means that soft, delicate substrates can now be nano-printed.

A new printing technique, developed by research teams from the NASA Ames Research Center and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, makes it possible to print miniature devices and nanoelectronics onto objects normally too delicate to survive the printing process.

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