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Sep 20, 2022

Mysterious Aerial Sightings Can Now Be Investigated Scientifically—And They Should Be!

Posted by in category: futurism

Why science suddenly has a lot to say about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)

Posted on http://BigThink, direct weblink at.


Posted on Big Think.

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Sep 20, 2022

Bill Taranto — President, GHI Fund, Merck — Corporate Venturing For Integrated Healthcare Solutions

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, business, finance, health, robotics/AI

Corporate Venturing For Integrated Digital Healthcare Solutions — Bill Taranto, President, Global Health Innovation Fund, Merck


Bill Taranto is President of the Global Health Innovation Fund at Merck (https://www.merckghifund.com/taranto.html) and founding partner since inception in 2010.

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Sep 20, 2022

How Plasma Rockets Work

Posted by in category: space travel

Circa 2016 face_with_colon_three


Imagine if we could get to Mars in 40 days instead of seven months! It could happen if we used plasma rockets, which travel at 34 miles per second. But how do we make this a reality?

Sep 20, 2022

NASA discovers a problem with one of the Webb Telescope’s most important instruments

Posted by in category: space

One important mode on the next-generation telescope is off.


One important mode used on the MIRI instrument on the massive telescope isn’t working, and NASA is trying to assess if it can be fixed.

Sep 20, 2022

Putting a New Spin on Laundromats

Posted by in categories: business, economics

The number of laundromats in Japan has doubled over the past 20 years. This episode shows how new takes on the traditional business model are offering more choices to consumers and helping their owners to draw in new customers. [In Focus: Skepticism Looms Over Indo-Pacific Partnership]The US wants countries in the Indo-Pacific to form a new economic partnership. Washington hopes it will promote growth in the region while helping it gain influence. But some say the effort is more bark than bite. [Global Trends: ‘White Gold’ Rush]Lithium-ion batteries are increasingly being used in all kinds of products. And that means big business for South America, which is sitting on an abundance of lithium. Big changes are now coming to the region as companies rush to extract its ‘white gold.’

Sep 20, 2022

Carbon nanotubes boost efficiency in “nanobionic” bacterial solar cells

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, nanotechnology, solar power, sustainability, transhumanism

Engineers at EPFL have found a way to insert carbon nanotubes into photosynthetic bacteria, which greatly improves their electrical output. They even pass these nanotubes down to their offspring when they divide, through what the team calls “inherited nanobionics.”

Solar cells are the leading source of renewable energy, but their production has a large environmental footprint. As with many things, we can take cues from nature about how to improve our own devices, and in this case photosynthetic bacteria, which get their energy from sunlight, could be used in microbial fuel cells.

In the new study, the EPFL team gave these bacteria a boost by inserting carbon nanotubes – tiny rolled-up sheets of graphene, a material that’s famously conductive. The nanotube-loaded bugs were able to produce up to 15 times more electricity than their non-edited counterparts from the same amount of sunlight.

Sep 20, 2022

What constitutes a mind? Researcher challenges perceptions of sentience with the smallest of creatures

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

At the beginning of my research career around 15 years ago, any suggestion that a bee, or any invertebrate, had a mind of its own or that it could experience the world in an intricate and multifaceted way would be met with ridicule. As Lars Chittka points out in the opening chapters of “The Mind of a Bee,” the attribution of human emotions and experiences was seen as naivety and ignorance; anthropomorphism was a dirty word.

Pet owners eagerly ascribe emotions to their animals, but the simple brain of a bee surely could not experience the rich tapestry that is our existence. They are far too simplistic and robotic, right?

Continue reading “What constitutes a mind? Researcher challenges perceptions of sentience with the smallest of creatures” »

Sep 20, 2022

Lockheed Martin breaks own record, delivers 300-kW laser weapon to US military

Posted by in category: military

The laser was developed under the Pentagon’s High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), which is an effort by the department to strengthen the directed energy industrial base and improve the quality of laser beams, as per Breaking Defense.

Sep 20, 2022

Why Are More of Us Skeptical About “Facts” These Days?

Posted by in categories: climatology, education, existential risks, sustainability

How do we reduce the distrust in the face of climate change and other existential threats? Teaching scientific reasoning skills is proposed.

Sep 20, 2022

SpaceX breaks Starship test record, rolls next booster to launch pad

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

SpaceX has completed a record-breaking test of a Starship booster and rolled a newer Super Heavy prototype to the launch pad just hours apart.

Almost six weeks after SpaceX began Super Heavy Booster 7’s static fire test campaign, the company has broken new ground by simultaneously igniting seven Raptor engines at once. A matter of hours later, confirming SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s plans in real time, the company transported a second Super Heavy prototype (Booster 8) from the factory to the launch pad, where it joined Booster 7.

According to Musk, those rockets will soon switch places, ensuring that no time is wasted while SpaceX continues to gradually work towards Starship’s first orbital launch attempts.