Lifeboat Foundation

NASA’s efforts to return astronauts to the moon have been delayed — again.

In a major step towards returning humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced they will be providing the airlock for NASA’s Lunar Gateway, which is the planned space station that will be in orbit around the Moon and responsible for ferrying future astronauts to and from the lunar surface.

Artist’s rendition of the Lunar Gateway (left) and a potential future airlock provided by the UAE (right). (Credit: NASA)

“The United States and the United Arab Emirates are marking a historic moment in our nations’ collaboration in space, and the future of human space exploration,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “We are in a new era of exploration through Artemis – strengthened by the peaceful and international exploration of space. The UAE’s provision of the airlock to Gateway will allow astronauts to conduct groundbreaking science in deep space and prepare to one day send humanity to Mars.”

Popular smart lighting company Nanoleaf today announced the launch of several new Matter-enabled lighting options, including its first outdoor lights. The company is also debuting a new music feature and accepting pre-orders for the Nanoleaf Skylight.

Nanoleaf’s Matter-enabled lights include the Smart Multicolor Lightstrip, the Smart Multicolor Outdoor String Lights, and the Smart Multicolor Permanent Outdoor Lights. The Outdoor String Lights feature large bulbs for decorating a front entryway, patio, or deck, while the permanent lights are designed to be installed under the eaves of a house in lieu of holiday string lights.

Laboratory “copilots” and automated labs are AI’s latest contribution to speeding up the development of new drugs, chemicals and materials. Why it matters: Scientific discovery itself must speed up if the world is to address its challenges — from climate change to personalized treatments for cancer — fast enough to make a difference. In scientific research, “manual effort is not scalable,” writes Microsoft Health Futures’ Hoifung Poon in the…

Although chaos theory can solve nearly anything that is unknown I basically think that in an infinite universe as made real from the infinite microchip that uses superfluid processing power is the real answer and we are off by factor of infinite parameters still.

When we look at scientific progress, especially in physics, it can seem like all the great discoveries lie behind us. Since the revolutions of Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, physicists have been struggling to find a way to make them fit together with little to no success. Tim Palmer argues that the answer to this stalemate lies in chaos theory.

Continue reading “Chaos theory and the end of physics” »

There was a flurry of activity towards the end of the year as large corporations look to establish local HQs. Other firms that have recently received such licenses are Airbus SE, Oracle Corp. and Pfizer Inc.

Saudi Arabia announced the new rules for state contracts in February 2021, saying it wanted to limit ‘economic leakage’ — a term used by the government for state spending that can benefit firms that don’t have a substantial presence in the country.

A key part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic agenda has been to limit some of the billions in spending by the government and Saudi citizens that leave the country each year. Government officials want to stop giving contracts to international firms who only fly executives in and out of the kingdom.

The first functional semiconductor made from graphene has been created at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This could enable smaller and faster electronic devices and may have applications for quantum computing.

Credit: Georgia Institute of Technology.

Continue reading “First functional semiconductor made from graphene” »

As a result, the company is now racing to make the most of the situation, though a full Moon landing is now sounding more or less impossible.

“We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time,” the company wrote.

It’s a sad state of affairs. In the most recent update, the company shared the first photo the lander snapped in space, showing a creased layer of insulation, which may have contributed to the spacecraft’s ongoing issues.

The therapy—developed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)—relies on both the immune system to fight key aspects of Alzheimer’s, plus modified cells that zero in on the brain protein plaques that are a hallmark of the disease.

In patients with Alzheimer’s, amyloid-beta protein forms plaques that prevent nerve cells from signaling each other. One theory is that this might cause irreversible memory loss and behavior changes characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

The new study was recently published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration. Researchers used genetically modified immune-controlling cells called Tregs to target amyloid-beta.