Lifeboat Foundation

It took two years to gather all the data included in this image.

This detailed catalog of the stars in our galaxy was a challenge to produce. The telescope’s near-infrared camera helped astronomers see through the clouds of dust that weave their way between the stars, blocking shorter wavelengths of light like visible and ultraviolet. But sometimes the problem is too much light. Our galaxy’s disk is packed so full of stars that they often overlap when you try to photograph them all, and the diffuse light from nebulae and star clusters makes it even harder to single out individual stars. Saydjari and his colleagues used a data processing program that helped predict the background behind each star, making it easier to separate one star from another.

“One of the main reasons for the success of DECaPS2 (the Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey’s second data release) is that we simply pointed at a region with an extraordinarily high density of stars and were careful about identifying sources that appear nearly on top of each other,” says Saydjari.

I posted about Japan releasing radioactive water, and thought it was a bad idea, because of this MIT revelation.

Nuclear power continues to expand globally, propelled, in part, by the fact that it produces few greenhouse gas emissions while providing steady power output. But along with that expansion comes an increased need for dealing with the large volumes of water used for cooling these plants, which becomes contaminated with radioactive isotopes that require special long-term disposal.

Now, a method developed at MIT provides a way of substantially reducing the volume of contaminated water that needs to be disposed of, instead concentrating the contaminants and allowing the rest of the water to be recycled through the plant’s cooling system. The proposed system is described in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, in a paper by graduate student Mohammad Alkhadra, professor of chemical engineering Martin Bazant, and three others.

Continue reading “A new way to remove contaminants from nuclear wastewater” »

Elon Musk said the private space firm has “a real shot at late February” for the orbital launch of Starship.

We might finally see SpaceX’s Starship soar to orbit next month. SpaceX’s orbital launch of its fully reusable Starship rocket is arguably the most exciting upcoming space mission of the year. And we may not have to wait very long to see it take to the skies.

Starship could fly to orbit for the first time as soon as late February, though March is more likely, according to an update from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk via Twitter.

Continue reading “SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket could soar to orbit as soon as next month” »

People suffering from schizophrenia can expect to die 15 years sooner than they ordinarily would. A new study has now found that this could be partly caused by advanced brain aging. The research findings were published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Schizophrenia is associated with an increased risk of premature death, partially as a result of suicide or poor physical health. Studies to date have suggested that the high prevalence of disease, long-term cognitive decline and excess deaths in people with schizophrenia could in part be caused when their brain’s biological age overtakes the chronological age.

According to a few small-scale studies, this discrepancy called brain-predicted age difference (brain-PAD) has been found to be consistently higher in schizophrenic patients compared to healthy individuals. The studies have also shown that the gap between the two ages mainly widens during the first years after the onset of the illness.

Despite its recent blowback, Web 3.0 offers a more interconnected and productive society.

The next significant development for the internet and all it governs is Web 3.0. To improve user experience, it will make use of artificial intelligence. In addition, blockchain technology will enable the service to be backed by decentralized networks since Web 3.0 is the fundamental framework for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. This will be a revolutionary move that might significantly influence businesses and how they function, as well as individual users. For instance, site owners won’t have to rely on larger businesses like Amazon (AWS) and Google to buy server space.

Web 2.0 – the current version of the internet – has grown overly centralized, with a small number of large technology businesses and government organizations controlling the industry. Web 3.0, which promises a decentralized online ecosystem built on the still-emerging blockchain, will be the third iteration of the internet. Web 3.0 was first coined in 2014 by a computer scientist named Gavin Wood also helped create Ethereum, the decentralized blockchain system that powers the ether coin.

Continue reading “Explained: Will Web 3.0 live up to its hype?” »

Summary: Combining new wearable technology and artificial intelligence, researchers are better able to track motion and monitor the progression of movement disorders.

Source: Imperial College London.

A multi-disciplinary team of researchers has developed a way to monitor the progression of movement disorders using motion capture technology and AI.

The cooking with gas controversy misses the point. The real problem is the transitional fuel strategy.

Congressman Matt Gaetz reacted to a proposed suggestion to regulate gas stoves by saying “you’ll have to pry it from my COLD DEAD HANDS!”

Summary: Researchers explore why some songs constantly get stuck in our heads and why these “hooks” are the guiding principle for modern popular music.

Source: University of Wollongong.

“Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy… But here’s my number, so call me, maybe.”

Contents:
00:00 — Lunar Glass & Lunar Vehicle (Music: Lunar City)
05:01-HEXATRACK-Space Express Concept (Music: Constellation)
10:30 — Mars Glass, Dome City, and Martian Terra Forming (Music: Martian)
13:54 — Beyond — Proxima Centauri, Tau Cet e, TRAPPIST-I system, and beyond (Music: Neptune) HEXATRACK-Space Express Concept, designed and created by Yosuke A. Yamashiki, Kyoto University.
Lunar Glass & Mars Glass, designed and created by Takuya Ono, Kajima Co. Ltd.
Visual Effect and detailed design are generated by Juniya Okamura.
Concept Advisor Naoko Yamazaki, AstronautSIC Human Spaceology Center, GSAIS, Kyoto UniversityVR of Lunar&Mars Glass — created by Natsumi Iwato and Mamiko Hikita, Kyoto University.
VR contents of Lunar&Mars Glass by Shinji Asano, Natsumi Iwato, Mamiko Hikita and Junya Okamura.
Daidaros concept by Takuya Ono.
Terraformed Mars were designed by Fuka Takagi & Yosuke A. Yamashiki.
Exoplanet image were created by Ryusuke Kuroki, Fuka Takagi, Hiroaki Sato, Ayu Shiragashi and Y. A. Yamashiki.
All Music (” Lunar City” “Constellation”“Martian”“Neptune”) are composed and played by Yosuke Alexandre Yamashiki.