Lifeboat Foundation

Human rating the SpaceX Starship could take a few years after it is flying successfully to orbit. However, the SpaceX Starship could fly unmanned into orbit and even dock with the ISS Space Station.

ErcXSpace has some renderings of what the SpaceX Starship looks like in orbit and docked with the Space Station. It would be trivial and fast for SpaceX Starship to be able to hold safe living conditions. The human rating issues are more difficult to prove launching reliably and safely. This would also mean proving launch abort safety.

If the SpaceX Starship flies unmanned to orbit then astronauts could fly up via other systems like the SpaceX Dragon and dock and board Starships.

The Koenigsegg CC850 that debuted during August’s 2022 Monterey Car Week is a re-imagination of the Swedish firm’s first production car, and one of the highlights is a transmission like no other.

The CC850 uses a version of the 9-speed Light Speed Transmission from the Koenigsegg Jesko, but with a new Engage Shifter System (ESS) that makes the automatic transmission transform into a 6-speed manual (it still maintains the full automatic mode with nine gears, though). This Engineering Explained video provides a deep dive into Koenigsegg’s reinvented manual.

Koenigsegg’s latest hypercar features an automatic transmission that can transform into a manual complete with a clutch pedal.

Continue reading “Deep dive: How Koenigsegg reinvented the manual transmission for the CC850” »

The backpack also boasts a camera, microphone, speaker, network interface, processor, and storage, of course.

A person with poor vision heading to work faces many challenges, such as difficulty identifying the traffic lights. One day, the person is handed a backpack that is able to recognize the objects surrounding them, describing the people and stores nearby.

Now, an innovation can help support individuals with multiple tasks through the tech giant – Microsoft’s latest innovation – an artificial intelligence (AI) endowed smart backpack.

A new study reveals the brain circuit that controls sex drive in male mice. Scientists believe this finding could apply to humans and may allow them to manipulate the male libido.

Scientists at Stanford Medicine have identified the exact part of the brain that controls sex drive in mice. It is possible that the same part of the human brain also regulates libido in men.

“We’ve singled out a circuit in male mammals’ brains that controls sexual recognition, libido, and mating behavior and pleasure,” said Nirao Shah, one of the senior researchers and a professor of behavioral sciences at Stanford.

The United States Air Force has completed a critical AI-controlled autonomous flight of its modified Osprey Mark III unmanned aerial system.

The USAF reports that the United States Air Force’s (USAF) “Osprey” Mark III unmanned aerial system (UAS) has completed its first fully autonomous test flight. Conducted on July 20, 2023, the test formed part of the USAF’s larger Autonomy, Data, and AI Experimentation (ADAx) Proving Ground effort for the program, specifically the USAF’s Autonomy Prime Environment for Experimentation or APEX, a subset of ADAx. The trial was conducted to evaluate and operationalize artificial intelligence and autonomy concepts to support warfighters on the evolving… More.

Continue reading “AI-controlled Osprey MK3 drone completes its maiden flight” »

Scientists have been left baffled by the discovery of the wreck of a 2,000-year-old “computer” that is amazingly complex.

The Antikythera mechanism – an astronomical calendar – has been dubbed “‘the first computer” and has baffled scientists for generations after it was first discovered inside a Greek shipwreck in 1901.

The device is a hand-powered time-keeping instrument that used a wing-up system to track the sun, moon and planets’ celestial time. It also worked as a calendar, tracking the phases of the Moon and the timing of eclipses.

A team led by NASA in Utah’s West Desert is in the final stages of preparing for the arrival of the first U.S. asteroid sample – slated to land on Earth in this month.

A mockup of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer) sample capsule was dropped last Wednesday from an aircraft and landed at the drop zone at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range in the desert outside Salt Lake City. This was part of the mission’s final major test prior to the arrival of the actual capsule on September 24 with its sample of asteroid Bennu, collected in space almost three years ago.

The study reveals a strong association between gut microbial carbohydrate metabolism and insulin resistance, pointing to gut microbes as a key player in metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Targeting these microbial activities could offer a new therapeutic pathway for improving insulin resistance and overall metabolic health.

Don’t be deceived: Artificial intelligence will be just as ubiquitous and transformative as advertised.