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Feb 21, 2022

A salty new discovery hints at potential for alien life in an unexpected Solar System location

Posted by in category: alien life

Ceres, the only inner solar system dwarf planet, has brines that could keep a liquid water ocean stable somewhere under its surface.

Feb 21, 2022

AI Machines Have Beaten Moore’s Law Over The Last Decade, Say Computer Scientists

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Computational performance has followed Moore’s Law since the dawn of the computer age. Not any more.

Feb 21, 2022

What the James Webb Telescope Will Help Us to See: The Meaning of Existence

Posted by in category: cosmology

It will look back in time to its beginning, study the Universe’s expansion, galaxies, black holes, stars, planets and seek bio-signatures.

Feb 21, 2022

Specialized printing, fabrication could carve out niche in e-clothing for athletics, healthcare

Posted by in category: innovation

Scientists at Case Western Reserve University have developed an inexpensive way to transform an ordinary shirt into an electronic smart shirt—one able to monitor and adjust body temperature or even allow the wearer to apply heat to a sore shoulder or back.

All from a design printed on the fabric of the shirt or any other piece of clothing.

The key to their innovation: A highly and simple screen-printing process. The new method results in a waterproof, breathable and highly flexible design that can function as a heating element when powered by a coin-sized battery.

Feb 21, 2022

Iawn: IAWN Home

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, habitats

This group appears to be doing its ‘bit’ for NEO identification and is always open to new members, check it out?


IAWN was established (2013) as a result of the UN-endorsed recommendations for an international response to a potential NEO impact threat, to create an international group of organizations involved in detecting, tracking, and characterizing NEOs. The IAWN is tasked with developing a strategy using well-defined communication plans and protocols to assist Governments in the analysis of asteroid impact consequences and in the planning of mitigation responses.

Feb 21, 2022

UChicago scientists create strange quantum ‘domain walls’ in laboratory

Posted by in category: quantum physics

Feb 21, 2022

Ethiopia starts generating power at Nile mega-dam

Posted by in category: energy

Feb 21, 2022

Taking Earth with us: Is space exploration “sustainable”?

Posted by in categories: habitats, space travel, sustainability

Space colonization requires us to better understand how Earth sustains us.

In the coming decades, space agencies from around the world will be venturing farther out into space than ever before. This includes returning to the Moon (perhaps to stay this time), exploring Mars, and maybe even establishing human settlements on both. Beyond that, there are even proposals for establishing habitats in space that could accommodate millions. These plans build on decades of planning that go back to the dawn of the Space Age. In some cases, the plans are inspired by proposals made over half a century prior to that. While these grand visions for space exploration and colonization present many challenges, they also inspire innovative solutions. In particular, missions to deep-space require fresh thinking about environmental control and life-support systems (ECLSS) that can provide self-sufficiency in terms of air, water, food, and protection from radiation and the dangers of space. These are essential since missions that take astronauts far from Earth cannot depend upon resupply missions from the surface to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Continue reading “Taking Earth with us: Is space exploration ‘sustainable’?” »

Feb 21, 2022

Nvidia reportedly spent $10 billion for a chunk of TSMC’s 5nm manufacturing capacity

Posted by in category: computing

To show how bad the chip shortage is, Nvidia just spent about $10 billion in bribes (prepayments) to get TSMC to build some chips for it!


Why it matters: Securing enough manufacturing capacity is going to be critical to the success of Nvidia’s RTX 4,000 GPUs, which are expected to land as soon as this summer. The RTX 3,000 series were regarded by gamers as paper launches, but the company is said to have paid through the nose so that wouldn’t be the case for its upcoming GPUs.

Continue reading “Nvidia reportedly spent $10 billion for a chunk of TSMC’s 5nm manufacturing capacity” »

Feb 21, 2022

Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellite Dishes Are Attracting Cats

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, internet, satellites

The heat from Starlink’s receiver dishes is helping felines and other small animals stay warm through the cold winters.

Starlink is an important project of SpaceX and Elon Musk to provide high-speed satellite Internet to mankind. Although it is not yet clear how we humans will benefit, this project is definitely being extremely popular with cats, at least for the time being. The reason is because Starlink’s receiver dishes are becoming the ideal place for cats to rest and warm up in the cold winter.

Specifically, on a Twitter post on New Year’s Eve, one user named Aaron Taylor captured an image of 5 cats cuddled up on one of Starlink satellite dishes. Meanwhile, though the outdoor temperature seemed quite low and the ground was still covered with snow, the heat emitted from the receiver dishes appeared to be enough to warm the kittens, making them continue to lie there.