Lifeboat Foundation

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has captured rare footage of a black hole eating up a start and creating a gas cloud that is as large as the solar system.

With new tools like the James Webb Space Telescope, we’re discovering more exoplanets than ever and even peering into their atmospheres. Now, NASA is asking for the public’s help in learning more about some of the exoplanets that have already been detected in a citizen science program called Exoplanet Watch.

“With Exoplanet Watch you can learn how to observe exoplanets and do data analysis using software that actual NASA scientists use,” said Rob Zellem, the creator of Exoplanet Watch and an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement. “We’re excited to show more people how exoplanet science is really done.”

The Exoplanet Watch project has two parts, one involving observing for those who have access to a telescope, and one involving identifying exoplanets in existing data. Even if you don’t have access to equipment other than a computer or smartphone, you can still help in learning about exoplanets by requesting access to data collected by robotic telescopes and assisting with data analysis. That’s needed because observing exoplanets passing in front of their host stars — in events called transits — is only half of the challenge of finding a new planet. These transits result in dips in the star’s brightness, but these dips are very small at typically less than 1% of the star’s brightness.

A stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a stellar nursery called NGC 346, which is not only beautiful but is also leading astronomers to rethink their theories about how stars and planets could have formed in the early universe.

The star cluster NGC 346 is a busy region full of star formation and is located in the nearby Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The composition of the Small Magellanic Cloud is rather different from that of the Milky Way, as it has fewer heavier elements. As dust is typically composed of these heavier elements, astronomers thought that there would be less dust in the Small Magellanic Cloud — but that’s not what Webb found.

Instead, Webb found abundant dust as well as hydrogen, which means this galaxy has the building blocks not only for stars but also for planets. This is interesting to astronomers who had wanted to study the Small Magellanic Cloud because its composition makes it similar to much older galaxies that existed in a period of the universe called the cosmic noon, around 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

We’ve still got a long way to go.

Scientists found that solar sails, not rockets, could be the best option to return materials mined from asteroids back to Earth.

Uncover the truth behind the human lifespan. From Ancient Rome to modern America, discover the progress we’ve made in extending life expectancy and the flaws in measuring it. Join us as we explore the science of aging, the pursuit of immortality, and the ongoing debate on the limits of human longevity.

If a brain is uploaded into a computer, will consciousness continue in digital form or will it end forever when the brain is destroyed? Philosophers have long debated such dilemmas and classify them as questions about personal identity. There are currently three main theories of personal identity: biological, psychological, and closest continuer theories. None of these theories can successfully address the questions posed by the possibility of uploading. I will argue that uploading requires us to adopt a new theory of identity, psychological branching identity. Psychological branching identity states that consciousness will continue as long as there is continuity in psychological structure. What differentiates this from psychological identity is that it allows identity to continue in multiple selves.

All four participants were able to send out neural signals.

Medical technology company Synchron published in a press release on Monday the results of a clinical study that saw paralyzed patients effectively send out neural signals via an implantable brain-computer interface.

The study highlighted the long-term safety results from a clinical study in which four patients with severe paralysis implanted with Synchron’s first-generation Stentrode, a neuroprosthesis device, were able to control a computer.

The PLA has been using AI to simulate war games for invasion operations against Taiwan.

China could allegedly use more artificial intelligence (AI) to maintain deterrence against the United States (U.S.) over Taiwan.

“PLA should conduct blockade exercises around the island and use AI technology to deter U.S. interference and Taiwanese independence forces,” said Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies.

Continue reading “‘Smart deterrence’: China to enhance AI-warfare against US over Taiwan” »

The AI-powered cuddling robots could provide therapy for future astronauts.

Japan is seeking to one day launch adorable robotic seals called Paros into space, according to an article by the South China Morning Post (SCMP)

The company has already undertaken a two-week simulation of a Mars mission at the U.S.-based Mars Desert Research Station, operated by the Mars Society in Utah.

Continue reading “Researchers test effects of baby seal robots on potential Mars dwellers” »