Lifeboat Foundation

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) has one single instrument onboard – the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation, aka the DRACO camera. DRACO serves as the spacecraft’s eye and will guide DART to its final destination: impact with asteroid Dimorphos. The stream you’re watching is a real-time feed from the DART spacecraft enabled through the DRACO camera sending one image per second to Earth. In the hours before impact, the screen will appear mostly black, with a single point of light. That point is the binary asteroid system Didymos which is made up of a larger asteroid named Didymos and a smaller asteroid that orbits around it called Dimorphos. As the 7:14 p.m. EDT (23:14 UTC) impact of asteroid Dimorphos nears closer, the point of light will get bigger and eventually detailed asteroids will be visible.

At 7:14 p.m., the DART spacecraft is slated to intentionally crash into asteroid Dimorphos. This stream will be delayed due to the time it takes the images to arrive at Earth, plus additional time for feeding the images to various platforms. For the most up-to-date DRACO camera feed, please tune into the NASA DART Impact Broadcast here: https://youtu.be/4RA8Tfa6Sck.

Continue reading “Watch a Live Feed from NASA’s DART Spacecraft on Approach to Asteroid Dimorphos” »

Circa 2021:3

The insects don’t sting but they could be the key to controlling the highly destructive emerald ash borer beetle.

Booting biology systems readouts.
Bio-monitors on.
Choice.
Graph five… engage.
Change brain wave parameters.
Brain wave pattern altered.
Prepare brain stem injection.
Initiate brain stem.
Insertion complete.
Synaptic reaction positive.
Change brain wave parameters.
Initiate second level.
Insertion complete.
Initiate brain stem.
Brain wave pattern altered.
Warning.
Shut down theta stimulation.
Warning.
Endocrine, adrenal, increasing to fatal levels.
System shutdown.

Qualcomm AI Research explores fundamental research to combine causality with AI.

At least one patient with advanced cancer experienced a complete remission after being treated with a modified herpes virus.

Kitchen robots are making more than just sliders and pizzas. Chipotle is testing Chippy, a version of Miso Robotics’ arm-based automaton (already in use at White Castle) customized to make tortilla chips. The bot not only knows how to replicate Chipotle’s recipe, but is smart enough to add “subtle variations” to keep things interesting — you might get a little more lime or salt.

The test is currently limited a Chipotle “innovation hub” in Irvine, California. However, the Mexican-themed restaurant chain also plans to use Chippy in a southern California restaurant later this year. Feedback from customers and workers will help shape any potential national rollout.

People will still be involved in making most of your burrito or taco, Chipotle said. Like an earlier rollout of the Pepper chat bot, Chippy will be there to “improve the human experience” rather than replace back-of-house cooks. You might get your meals sooner and with more consistent quality, particularly during busy hours.

Researchers working to analyze the Antikythera Mechanism believe they may finally have a model that fully describes its functions and capabilities.

In molecules, the atoms vibrate with characteristic patterns and frequencies. Vibrations are therefore an important tool for studying molecules and molecular processes such as chemical reactions. Although scanning tunneling microscopes can be used to image individual molecules, their vibrations have so far been difficult to detect.

Physicists at Kiel University (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, CAU) have now invented a method with which the vibration signals can be amplified by up to a factor of 50. Furthermore, they increased the frequency resolution considerably. The new method will improve the understanding of interactions in molecular systems and further simulation methods. The research team has now published the results in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Continue reading “Physicists make molecular vibrations more detectable” »

The launch of the American space agency’s big new Moon rocket is being delayed for the third time.