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Jun 18, 2022
A young pulsar is blazing through our galaxy at a speed of over a million miles per hour
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: cosmology
Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars, highly dense stars composed almost entirely of neutrons. They are formed when massive stars run out of fuel, collapse, and explode.
Recently, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory spotted a young pulsar blazing through the Milky Way at a speed of around a million miles per hour. This pulsar is one of the fastest objects of its kind ever seen.
Chandra observed the pulsar racing through the remnants of the supernova that formed it, G292.0+1.8, around 20,000 light-years away from Earth. The speed of this pulsar is almost 30% higher than a previous estimate of the pulsar’s speed. This speed indicates that the G292.0+1.8 and its pulsar may be significantly younger than astronomers previously thought.
Jun 18, 2022
NASA publishes the results of its intense killer asteroid dress rehearsal
Posted by Atanas Atanasov in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, health
Monitoring PHAs is a huge responsibility that requires a worldwide effort, including tracking, alerts, and disaster preparedness. Last year, over 100 participants from 18 countries (including NASA scientists and the NEOWISE mission) conducted an international exercise that simulated an encounter with an asteroid that made a close flyby to Earth. As NASA revealed in a recently-released study, the exercise was a complete success. The lessons learned could help avert real impacts in the near future or significantly limit the devastation one could cause.
The study, which appeared in the May 31 issue of The Planetary Science Journal (titled “Apophis Planetary Defense Campaign”), was conducted by the Planetary Defense Exercise Working Group and led by Vishnu Reddy — an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPI). The working group is made up of more than 100 participants from 18 countries and includes facilities like NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), the ESA NEO Coordination Centre, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), and many universities and research institutes worldwide.
As Reddy and his colleagues describe in the paper, the planetary defense exercise was the culmination of work that began in 2017, which was designed to test the operational readiness of our global planetary defense capabilities. The exercise was carried out with the support of NASA’s PDCO, the Minor Planet Center (MPC) — the internationally-recognized authority for monitoring the position and motion of small celestial bodies — and the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN). The exercise was named the Apophis Campaign since it coincided with the close approach of the NEO (99942) Apophis, which flew past Earth from December 2020 to March 2021.
Jun 18, 2022
Scientists serendipitously discover rare cluster compound
Posted by Michael Taylor in categories: biotech/medical, materials
Scientists at Kyoto University’s Institute for Cell-Material Sciences have discovered a novel cluster compound that could prove useful as a catalyst. Compounds, called polyoxometalates, that contain a large metal-oxide cluster carry a negative charge. They are found everywhere, from anti-viral medicines to rechargeable batteries and flash memory devices.
The new cluster compound is a hydroxy-iodide (HSbOI) and is unusual, as it has large, positively charged clusters. Only a handful of such positively charged cluster compounds have been found and studied.
“In science, the discovery of new material or molecule can create a new science,” says Kyoto University chemist Hiroshi Kageyama. “I believe that these new positively charged clusters have great potential.”
Jun 18, 2022
Meta is launching a digital clothing store where you can purchase outfits for your avatar
Posted by Gemechu Taye in category: futurism
Jun 18, 2022
Israel unveils new autonomous armed robotic vehicle to test in 2023
Posted by Gemechu Taye in categories: robotics/AI, transportation
Jun 18, 2022
TikTok takes action amid new claims workers in China accessed US users’ data
Posted by Gemechu Taye in category: security
Jun 18, 2022
SpaceX fires at least five workers while Elon Musk touts freedom of speech
Posted by Gemechu Taye in categories: Elon Musk, space travel
Jun 18, 2022
Teaching Physics to AI Makes the Student a Master
Posted by Gemechu Taye in categories: information science, physics, robotics/AI
Jun 18, 2022
Saudi Arabia Pledges $1 Billion a Year to Anti-Aging Research
Posted by Joe Bennett in categories: biotech/medical, finance, life extension
The Beginnings of a biotechnology revolution in Saudi Arabia?
The Saudi royal family, led by king Salman bin Abdulaziz have announced the formation of a non-profit research foundation which intends to spend $1 billion of the countries considerable annual oil revenue on supporting anti-aging research. If such funding materialises, it will make Saudi Arabia the single greatest financial contributor to longevity research.
The Saudi royal family aims to distribute this funding through a non-profit organisation called the Hevolution Foundation 0, which was founded by Dr Mehmood Khan, formerly of the Mayo Clinic. In a formal introduction to the Hevolution Foundation, Dr Khan had the following to say.