Menu

Blog

Page 4159

Jul 15, 2022

Complex motions for simple actuators

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Inflatable soft actuators that can change shape with a simple increase in pressure can be powerful, lightweight, and flexible components for soft robotic systems. But there’s a problem: These actuators always deform in the same way upon pressurization.

To enhance the functionality of soft robots, it is important to enable additional and more complex modes of deformation in soft actuators.

Continue reading “Complex motions for simple actuators” »

Jul 15, 2022

Hacker Convicted Over Largest Data Theft in CIA History

Posted by in category: futurism

The agency’s former employee says he’s been made a scapegoat for a massive WikiLeaks exposé.

A former CIA software engineer has been convicted on all nine counts in a New York court, with jurors pronouncing him guilty of leaking sensitive data to Wikileaks in what is believed to be the largest breach in the agency’s history to date. A sentencing date is still pending, with another unrelated trial against the man ahead.

On Wednesday, Joshua Schulte heard district judge Jesse M. Furman read out a guilty verdict in a federal court in New York, with charges including stealing and transmitting classified information as well as obstruction of justice.

Jul 15, 2022

The Baby-Box Lady of America

Posted by in category: futurism

Circa 2021


With the help of safe-haven laws, which allow parents to anonymously surrender their babies, Monica Kelsey has installed more than ninety baby boxes—mailbox-like receptacles for infants—in five states.

Jul 15, 2022

Neuronal Cell Type for Controlling the Flow of Information in the Brain Discovered

Posted by in category: neuroscience

By briefly inhibiting other cells, neurogliaform cells in the CA1 region of the hippocampus ensure that current perception and memories of past experiences can be processed both separately and in combination with each other.

Jul 15, 2022

U.S. Government’s Office of Science and Technology Issues Call for Cislunar Strategies

Posted by in categories: government, policy, science, space travel, sustainability

White House asks the public for ideas on what to do when we return to the Moon and cislunar space.


The U.S. has plans to return to the moon by the middle of this decade through NASA’s Artemis Program. But going back to the lunar surface and cislunar space isn’t just about putting boots on the ground. That’s why the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on behalf of the Cislunar Science and Technology Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council has issued a request for ideas (RFI) with a deadline of Wednesday, July 20, 2022, for interested parties to make submissions.

The U.S. government has defined cislunar space as the entire region beyond Earth’s geostationary orbit subject to the gravity of both our planet and the Moon. The RFI covers both orbiting and lunar surface activities.

Continue reading “U.S. Government’s Office of Science and Technology Issues Call for Cislunar Strategies” »

Jul 15, 2022

SpaceX Starship: Where is Musk’s mega rocket now?

Posted by in category: space travel

Forcing them to become servants could have a bad outcome. See the latest episode of The Orville, “From Unknown Graves”. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12037520

Ron HelwigThe Orville keeps getting better. It’s already the best Trek.

Continue reading “SpaceX Starship: Where is Musk’s mega rocket now?” »

Jul 15, 2022

A new measurement record for strongest magnetic field in universe

Posted by in categories: energy, space

Breaking the previous record by 60 percent.

The team behind the first Chinese X-ray astronomy satellite, Insight-HXMT, has discovered the strongest magnetic field directly measured in the universe hitherto.

It is a known fact that neutron stars generate the strongest magnetic fields in the universe. These magnetic fields, close to a neutron star’s surface, can only be measured accurately and directly by looking for cyclon resonance scattering features (CRSF). The Insight-HXMT team discovered a cyclotron absorption line with an energy of 146 keV in the neutron star X-ray binary Swift J0243.6+6124, which translates to a surface magnetic field of more than 1.6 billion Tesla.

Jul 15, 2022

New York City released PSA to prepare for a nuclear attack. But why?

Posted by in category: existential risks

Jul 15, 2022

Can Humanity Handle Alien Contact and its Consequences?

Posted by in category: futurism

Posted on Big Think.

Jul 15, 2022

New kind of laser uses tiny particle clumps to generate light

Posted by in category: particle physics

Lasers normally use mirrors to create laser light, but a new kind uses clumps of moving particles. The result is a laser that is more programmable and could generate extra-sharp visual displays.