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The use of drugs that boost athletic capabilities make sense in the grueling environment of Navy SEAL training. Viagra, though, the brand name of a drug called sildenafil which is typically prescribed as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, seems on its face to be much more unusual.

The NYT reports that other Navy SEAL candidates had convinced Mullen that the drug was an effective treatment for SIPE, the acronym that sailors gave swimming-induced pulmonary edema. There is some evidence that the sailors were onto something; several groups of researchers have found that sildenafil might be an effective treatment against the condition.

NYT article.


It’s the stuff of science fiction: Solar panels in space that beam power directly to Earth equipping the planet with clean renewable and affordable energy. Yet, it could soon be reality.

Caltech has just received $100 million in funding for their Space Solar Power Project (SSPP). The project is described by Caltech as: “Collecting solar power in space and transmitting the energy wirelessly to Earth through microwaves enables terrestrial power availability unaffected by weather or time of day. Solar power could be continuously available anywhere on earth.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has extended the state of emergency declared in response to the spread of poliovirus after sewage tested positive in Brooklyn and Queens.

Hochul said the state disaster emergency will remain in place at least through Nov. 8 to support statewide efforts to boost the vaccination rate against polio.

The New York State Department of Health, in a statement Tuesday, said the sewage sample that tested positive in Brooklyn and Queens is genetically linked to the virus that paralyzed an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County over the summer.

The metaverse is set to disrupt our lives — its development should not be taken lightly.

Building it must not be hastened by a few companies; it must be careful, calculated, thoughtful and most of all, collaborative.

This was the key takeaway of a panel discussion (moderated by GamesBeat’s Dean Takahashi) on the technical standards and building blocks of the metaverse at this week’s MetaBeat event.

Analysis of data obtained over the past two weeks by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) investigation team shows the spacecraft’s kinetic impact with its target asteroid, Dimorphos, successfully altered the asteroid’s orbit. This marks humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology. Images such as the below helped scientists understand the orbit change resulting from DART’s impact.

Bull’s-eye: NASA’s DART craft successfully changed the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos by colliding into the rocky body two weeks ago, according to the space agency.

The test shows humanity has the capability to stop an asteroid from hitting the planet, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a Tuesday press conference (Opens in a new window). “If an Earth-threatening asteroid was discovered, and we can see it far enough away, this technique could be used to deflect it,” he added.

The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) was a spacecraft about the size of a refrigerator. When it collided with Dimorphos on September 26th, it was traveling at 14,000 miles per hour, which caused a noticeable impact that telescopes and radar images were able to capture.

The brain’s ability to adapt and rewire itself throughout life continues to surprise neuroscientists. Researchers have found a way to restore sight in adult mice with a form of congenital blindness, in spite of the rodents’ relative maturity.

The mice were modeling a rare human disorder of the eye’s retina, called leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), which often causes blindness or severe visual impairment at birth.

This inherited condition seems to be caused by a mutation in any one of dozens of genes associated with the retina and its light-sensing abilities.