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Aug 5, 2023

Capella’s Earth-imaging satellites are deorbiting faster than expected

Posted by in category: satellites

Update: The story has been updated to include comments from Capella Space CEO Payam Banazadeh and Phase Four. Paragraph five and six have been updated with additional context on solar flair activity and premature satellite reentry, and paragraph eleven contains additional information on Phase Four technology.

Capella Space’s synthetic aperture radar satellites are falling back to Earth much sooner than the three years they were anticipated to operate, according to publicly available satellite data.

The startup has launched a total of ten small satellites to low Earth orbit since 2018, including eight in its family of “Whitney”-class spacecraft. Five of these satellites have reentered the atmosphere since the end of January of this year, including three of the Whitneys. Those Whitney sats were in orbit for less than two-and-a-half years; one, Capella-5, was in orbit for less than two years.

Aug 5, 2023

Violent Neutron Star Collisions: Unlocking the Origins of Gold and Other Heavy Elements

Posted by in category: space

The gold that makes up your most precious jewelry may have been forged in a violent cosmic collision millions or billions of light years away between two neutron stars. New research seeks to better understand this process.

There is only a single confirmed site in the Universe capable of generating conditions extreme enough to initiate the production process for many of the heaviest elements in the Universe, including gold, platinum, uranium – neutron star.

A neutron star is the collapsed core of a large (between 10 and 29 solar masses) star. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars known to exist. Though neutron stars typically have a radius on the order of just 10 — 20 kilometers (6 — 12 miles), they can have masses of about 1.3 — 2.5 that of the Sun.

Aug 5, 2023

Axios Speed Read: Peter Attia’s new book on living longer

Posted by in category: life extension

I’m going to start bringing you Smart Brevity™ versions of books I find worthy of your time.

Zoom in:Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity,” by Peter Attia, M.D., is getting tons of buzz, and has spent 18 weeks on the N.Y. Times bestseller list (no. 2 for hardcover nonfiction in the list for Aug. 13).

Aug 5, 2023

Quantum leap: How quantum sensors are revolutionizing robotics

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, quantum physics, robotics/AI

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The recent Ant-Man movie did a great job of putting quantum up in lights, but the future of quantum science shines even brighter than fiction. One application, quantum sensors, is already the basis of some of the most important systems and technologies in our world — global positioning systems (GPS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners are prime examples.

Quantum sensors and quantum AI are just the beginning: Robots are now getting the quantum sensor treatment too. Quantum sensors will supercharge the way robots work and how we apply them to important 21st-century challenges.

Aug 5, 2023

WHO expert cancer group states that the sweetener aspartame is a possible carcinogen, but evidence is limited — 6 questions answered

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, health

Assessments of the health impacts of the non-sugar sweetener aspartame are released today by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Citing “limited evidence” for carcinogenicity in humans, IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans (IARC Group 2B) and JECFA reaffirmed the acceptable daily intake of 40 mg/kg body weight. Aspartame is an artificial (chemical) sweetener widely used in various food and beverage products since the 1980s, including diet drinks, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, dairy products such as yogurt, breakfast cereal, toothpaste and medications such as cough drops and chewable vitamins.

https://www.who.int/news/item/14-07-2023-aspartame-h…s-released


An expert panel found a potential association with liver cancer, but too little research exists to assume a causal connection. For now, the WHO left current consumption guidelines unchanged.

Continue reading “WHO expert cancer group states that the sweetener aspartame is a possible carcinogen, but evidence is limited — 6 questions answered” »

Aug 5, 2023

Lymphedema Encyclopedia

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Lymphedema is the buildup of lymph in your body. Lymph is a fluid surrounding tissues. Lymph moves through vessels in the lymph system and into the bloodstream. The lymph system is a major part of the immune system.

Aug 5, 2023

Public health alert issued for raw beef that may contain plastic

Posted by in category: health

(WTAJ) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert due to concerns about a raw beef product that may be contaminated.

According to the release, the raw beef item may contain soft, clear plastic. FSIS is issuing this public health alert to ensure that consumers are aware that this product should not be consumed. However, the product is no longer available for purchase.

Aug 5, 2023

New acoustic attack steals data from keystrokes with 95% accuracy

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI, security

A team of researchers from British universities has trained a deep learning model that can steal data from keyboard keystrokes recorded using a microphone with an accuracy of 95%.

When Zoom was used for training the sound classification algorithm, the prediction accuracy dropped to 93%, which is still dangerously high, and a record for that medium.

Such an attack severely affects the target’s data security, as it could leak people’s passwords, discussions, messages, or other sensitive information to malicious third parties.

Aug 5, 2023

Chandrayaan-3 successfully inserted into Moon’s orbit, under lunar gravity now: ISRO

Posted by in category: space travel

India’s third moon mission’s spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3, is one step closer to a lunar landing after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), announced that it has successfully entered the moon’s orbit, on Saturday (August 5).

ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission update.

The announcement was made by the Indian space agency on X, formerly known as Twitter where it wrote: “‘MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity’. Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit.”

Aug 5, 2023

5 Ways AI Has Already Changed the Music Industry

Posted by in categories: media & arts, robotics/AI

“Fake Drake” and similar controversies have gotten most of the attention, but not all uses of artificial intelligence in music are cause for concern.