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Indian spacecraft heads towards center of solar system

India’s sun-monitoring spacecraft has crossed a landmark point on its journey to escape “the sphere of Earth’s influence”, its space agency said, days after the disappointment of its moon rover failing to awaken.

The Aditya-L1 mission, which started its four-month journey towards the center of the solar system on September 2, carries instruments to observe the sun’s outermost layers.

“The spacecraft has escaped the sphere of Earth’s influence,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement late Saturday.

Micro Robot Disregards Gears, Embraces Explosions

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a tiny, proof of concept robot that moves its four limbs by rapidly igniting a combination of methane and oxygen inside flexible joints.

The device can’t do much more than blow each limb outward with a varying amount of force, but that’s enough to be able to steer and move the little unit. It has enough power to make some very impressive jumps. The ability to navigate even with such limited actuators is reminiscent of hopped-up bristebots.

Electronic control of combustions in the joints allows for up to 100 explosions per second, which is enough force to do useful work. The prototype is only 29 millimeters long and weighs only 1.6 grams, but it can jump up to 56 centimeters and move at almost 17 centimeters per second.

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

This article explores the research question: ‘What are ChatGPT’s human-like traits as perceived by society?’ Thematic analyses of insights from 452 individuals worldwide yielded two categories of traits. Category 1 entails social traits, where ChatGPT embodies the social roles of ‘author’ (imitating human phrasing and paraphrasing practices) and ‘interactor’ (simulating human collaboration and emotion). Category 2 encompasses political traits, with ChatGPT assuming the political roles of ‘agent’ (emulating human cognition and identity) and ‘influencer’ (mimicking human diplomacy and consultation). When asked, ChatGPT confirmed the possession of these human-like traits (except for one trait). Thus, ChatGPT displays human-like qualities, humanising itself through the ‘game of algorithms’.

To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA

In a recent study, scientists stained the DNA of this worm hatchling to hunt down segments of DNA that they’d seen deleted from its genome earlier in development. The deleted fragments (red) survive only in germline cells in the worm’s gonads.

To figure out what was going on, Delattre’s lab looked at the DNA of an adult worm. The researchers compared the genomes of M. belari’s germline cells — the specialized reproductive cells like sperm and eggs — with the genomes of the worm’s somatic (nonreproductive) cells. The somatic genomes were missing long strings of sequences present in germline genomes. Sometime between the embryo’s growth from seven cells to 32, huge chunks of DNA had vanished.

The scientists then watched nematode embryos develop under a microscope. As the cells grew and replicated their genomes, they broke 20 chromosomes down into fragments and then reassembled them into 40 miniature chromosomes. Most of the fragments rejoined in this new, smaller genome — but a substantial fraction were left out.

How to Use ChatGPT’s New Image Features

OpenAI recently announced an upgrade to ChatGPT (Apple, Android) that adds two features: AI voice options to hear the chatbot responding to your prompts, and image analysis capabilities. The image function is similar to what’s already available for free with Google’s Bard chatbot.

Even after hours of testing the limits and capabilities of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot still manages to surprise and scare me at the same time. Yes, I was quite impressed with the web browsing beta offered through ChatGPT Plus, but I remained anxious about the tool’s ramifications for people who write for money online, among many other concerns. The new image feature arriving for OpenAI’s subscribers left me with similarly mixed feelings.

While I’ve not yet had the opportunity to experiment with the new audio capabilities (other great reporters on staff have), I was able to test the soon-to-arrive image features. Here’s how to use the new image search coming to ChatGPT and some tips to help you start out.

NASA Begins Plans for $1 Billion Spacecraft to Safely Pull International Space Station Back To Earth

NASA has officially called upon companies to submit designs for a so-called U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV) for the International Space Station (ISS). This pioneering spacecraft would have the crucial mission of safely bringing the ISS back to Earth, marking the ISS’s planned retirement.

The unprecedented project comes with an estimated price tag “a little short of about $1 billion,” as reported earlier this year by Kathy Lueders, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations.

Although initial considerations revolved around employing Russian spaceships for this monumental task, NASA, in a strategic shift, opened the floor this month to proposals from U.S. industry. The deadline for these innovative submissions is set for November 17, following the initiation of the call for designs on September 20.

Scientists just proved that ‘monster’ black hole M87 is spinning — confirming Einstein’s relativity yet again

Astronomers have found the first direct evidence of a black hole spinning, and it’s confirmed Einstein’s theory of relativity yet again.

The discovery was made by studying powerful jets of energy beamed from the solar system-size black hole at the center of the neighboring Messier 87 galaxy. The black hole, called M87, is the best studied black hole to date and the first to ever be directly imaged in 2019, with its “donut hole” shadow crowned by a fuzzy halo of light.

New Biosensors Allow Earbuds To Record Brain Activity and Exercise Levels

Who knows? Maybe this is a way for giving commands to a computer/AI instead of implants if further developed in the future.

The streaming data from these biosensors can be used for health monitoring and diagnosis of neuro-degenerative conditions.

A pair of earbuds can be turned into a tool to record the electrical activity of the brain as well as levels of lactate in the body with the addition of two flexible sensors screen-printed onto a stamp-like flexible surface.

The sensors can communicate with the earbuds, which then wirelessly transmit the data gathered for visualization and further analysis, either on a smartphone or a laptop. The data can be used for long-term health monitoring and to detect long-term neuro-degenerative conditions.

Scientists developing implant to cure cancer in just 60 days — with goal to slash death rates by 50%

That’s good news if it becomes successful! Cancer is such an awful disease.

There’ll be an app for that.

Curing cancer could soon be as easy as a few taps on your mobile, according to a team of scientists at Rice University who have received $45 million in funding for a novel, implant-based treatment system that could cut cancer death rates by 50%.

The funds, granted by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, will be used to develop “sense-and-respond implant technology,” with the aim to improve the outcomes of immunotherapy treatments for cancers that are usually difficult to treat.