Key Takeaways:
Within this system, two young stars engage in an intimate celestial waltz, while a third star pirouettes around the pair. Enveloping all three stars is a fragmented disk of dust and gas, a cosmic canvas where future planets may take shape. This disk, unlike the one that gave rise to our solar system’s planets, comprises three loops, each with its unique contortions — a middle ring distinctly warped, and an inner ring playfully askew in relation to its companions.
On Wednesday, February 21st, at 01:40 p.m. PST (04:40 p.m. EST), an interesting package returned to Earth from space.
This was the capsule from the W-1 mission, an orbital platform manufactured by California-based Varda Space Industries, which landed at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). Even more interesting was the payload, which consisted of antiviral drugs grown in the microgravity environment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
The mission is part of the company’s goal to develop the infrastructure to make LEO more accessible to commercial industries.
A privately built spacecraft on the moon has beamed back new photos from the lunar surface, showing the vehicle’s much-celebrated descent and the moments immediately after touchdown when it tipped over on its side.
The Odysseus lander, built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, landed on the moon on Feb. 22, making history as the first commercial craft to reach the lunar surface and the first U.S. spacecraft on the moon in more than 50 years.
The following day, Intuitive Machines said Odysseus had pitched over when it touched down near a crater called Malapert A, close to the moon’s south pole. Company officials said the 14-foot-tall lander was operational but that some of the spacecraft’s antennas were pointing at the ground, limiting its ability to communicate with flight controllers back on Earth.
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) focuses on simulating and surpassing human intelligence, Artificial Life (A-Life) takes a different approach. Instead of replicating cognitive abilities, A-Life seeks to understand and model fundamental biological processes through software, hardware, and even… wetware.
Forget Turing tests and chess games. A-Life scientists don’t care if their creations are “smart” in the traditional sense. Instead, they’re fascinated by the underlying rules that govern life itself. Think of it as rewinding the movie of evolution, watching it unfold again in a digital petri dish.
Posted in media & arts, transportation
And other low pressure rail & maglev systems offer the possibility of ultra-fast and ultra-cheap transport on and off of Earth. Watch my exclusive video Topopolis: The Eternal River: https://nebula.tv/videos/isaacarthur–… Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Facebook Group:
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/ discord Credits: Vacuum Trains Episode 435a; February 25, 2024 Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editors: Konstantin Sokerin Merv Johnson II Graphics: Allen DeMoura Apogii.uk Ian “LITE” Long Jarred Eagley Justin Dixon Katie Byrne Ken York Phil Swan Real Courte Sergio Botero Udo Schroeter Music Courtesy of: Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator
Time’s inexorable march might well wait for no one, but a new experiment by researchers at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany and Roskilde University in Denmark shows how in some materials it might occasionally shuffle.
An investigation into the way substances like glass age has uncovered the first physical evidence of a material-based measure of time being reversible.
For the most part the laws of physics care little about time’s arrow. Flip an equation describing the movement of an object and you can easily calculate where it started. We describe such laws as time reversible.
Posted in media & arts, space
So called Dyson megaphere.
Birch Planets are enormous hypothetical Megastructures which would have more living area than every planet in our galaxy combined, and are even larger than Dyson Spheres. Mega Earths: https://youtu.be/ioKidcpkZN0 To find out more about megastructures, see the Megastructure Compendium: https://youtu.be/1xt13dn74wc Produced, Written & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Graphics by: Jeremy Jozwik, Ken York Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator
A look at creating artificial planets, ones vastly bigger than Earth, or potentially even an entire solar system.
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Cover Art by Jakub Grygier: https://www.artstation.com/artist/jak…
Graphics Team:
Edward Nardella.
Jarred Eagley.
Justin Dixon.
Katie Byrne.
Kris Holland of Mafic Stufios: www.maficstudios.com.
Misho Yordanov.
Pierre Demet.
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Stefan Blandin.
Script Editing:
Investigators identified 15 factors that affect risk for young-onset dementia.
Limited data are available on risk factors for young-onset dementia. In this study, researchers assessed 39 potential risk factors for young-onset dementia from data in the UK Biobank. Participants 65 years of age or older without a dementia diagnosis were included in the analysis. Potential risk factors were grouped into sociodemographic factors, genetic factors, lifestyle factors, environmental factors, blood marker factors, cardiometabolic factors, psychiatric factors, and other risk factors.
Among 359,052 participants, the mean age at baseline was 55 years and 55% were women. There were 485 incident all-cause young-onset dementia cases after a mean follow-up of 8 years. Incident young-onset dementia increased with age and was more common in men. Fewer years of formal education, lower socioeconomic status, the presence of two apolipoprotein E ℇ4 alleles, no alcohol use, alcohol use disorder, social isolation, vitamin D deficiency (1 mg/dL), lower handgrip strength, hearing impairment, orthostatic hypotension, stroke, diabetes, heart disease, and depression were associated with higher risk for young-onset dementia in fully adjusted models. Men with diabetes were more likely to have young-onset dementia than men without diabetes, and women with high C-reactive protein were more likely to have young-onset dementia than women with low C-reactive protein levels.
In the final days of his six-month stint aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen took some time out of his science work to snap some striking photos of a snow-covered Grand Canyon.
The images were captured from the station in recent days as it orbited Earth at an altitude of around 250 miles.
