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Oct 27, 2021

Researchers Warn: Common Antidepressant Should No Longer Be Used To Treat People With Dementia

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

A drug used to treat agitation in people with dementia is no more effective than a placebo, and might even increase mortality, according to a new study. A drug used to treat agitation in people with dementia is no more effective than a placebo, and might even increase mortality, according to a ne.

Oct 27, 2021

Unique Aussie box-wing eVTOL promises radical efficiency and huge range

Posted by in categories: finance, transportation

Australian company AMSL Aero is preparing to start flight tests on what it claims will be the world’s most efficient eVTOL design, and one of the most affordable. This box-wing beauty, the Vertiia, will travel up to 1,000 km (620 miles) on a tank of hydrogen, carrying five people or 500 kg (1,100 lb) of cargo at a quick cruise speed of 300 km/h (186 mph).

First emerging from stealth mode late last year, AMSL has a unique design, a prototype nearly ready to fly, and a target date of 2024 to get its aircraft certified and into production. Its small team has achieved an impressive amount on a shoestring budget, and it’s now raising another round of funding to finance flight testing and pre-production as it moves toward the certification process.

We spoke to co-founder Andrew Moore to learn more about this fascinating aircraft, and how Vertiia plans to stand out in a global emerging eVTOL air taxi market that’s starting to look comically crowded. What follows is an edited transcript.

Oct 27, 2021

Could facial recognition be the future of airport security? Delta Air Lines is testing it out

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, security, transportation

Delta Air Lines expects 2.5 million passengers to move through the Atlanta airport during the Thanksgiving period. Ahead of the holiday rush, Delta is testing new facial recognition technology to reduce the time it takes between arriving at the airport and getting passengers in their seats.

The company’s senior vice president for customer experience, Ranjan Goswami, said the facial recognition technology has been years in the making and will speed up travel.

Oct 27, 2021

The Facebook Papers: What you need to know about the trove of insider documents

Posted by in category: futurism

“We’ve been fueling this fire for a long time and we shouldn’t be surprised it’s now out of control,” one employee wrote on an internal message board, the documents show.

“Hang in there everyone,” Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, wrote on a message board, calling for calm as he explained the company’s approach to the riot, according to the documents.

In response to Schroepfer’s message, Facebook employees said it was too little too late.

Oct 27, 2021

World facing ‘catastrophe’ as countries’ climate commitments fall far short — UN

Posted by in category: climatology

Even with new and updated climate action plans, and pledges from major polluters, the world is on track for 2.7C of warming, a UN report shows.

Oct 27, 2021

India’s New Hypercar Is the Fastest Electric Vehicle It’s Ever Built

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Nd it’s also the lightest.

A Mumbai, India-based startup called Vazirani Automotive revealed images of its Ekonk electric hypercar, which was designed to be the “lightest EV ever,” a report from Motor1.com explains. The car, which looks like it’s out of the ‘Speed Racer’ movie, was designed with a special cooling system to keep it as light and fast as possible.

Continue reading “India’s New Hypercar Is the Fastest Electric Vehicle It’s Ever Built” »

Oct 27, 2021

General Dynamics’ Stryker Will Counter Drone Swarms With a Microwave Weapon

Posted by in categories: drones, military, robotics/AI

In service since 2,002 the Stryker combat vehicles have been constantly upgraded in light of changing warfare techniques. When deployed in Iraq, these combat vehicles had to be protected from the rocket-propelled grenades but were recently found to be lacking against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Europe. As warfare moves at lightning speed from drones to drone swarms, General Dynamics, the manufacturer of Stryker vehicles, is looking to arm the vehicle with a directed energy weapon.

To accelerate the pace of this upgrade, the defense manufacturer has teamed up with Los Angeles-based Epirus Inc., which has developed a counter-electronics system, Leonidas, capable of handling single as well as multiple threats.

Oct 27, 2021

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Will Launch an Orbital ‘Space Business Park’

Posted by in categories: business, space travel

We might be witnessing the start of the private space station race.

Dare we say that a new type of space race is heating up? Blue Origin, the space tourism firm founded by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced a partnership with Sierra Space and Boeing to build and launch a commercial space station called Orbital Reef by the end of the decade, a press statement reveals.

Continue reading “Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Will Launch an Orbital ‘Space Business Park’” »

Oct 27, 2021

SpaceX to launch Emirati imaging satellite

Posted by in category: satellites

DUBAI, U.A.E. — SpaceX has won a contract to launch an Emirati high-resolution imaging satellite on a Falcon 9 rideshare mission in 2023.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced at an Oct. 27 press conference here, held during the 72nd International Astronautical Congress, that it selected SpaceX to launch its MBZ SAT satellite in the second half 2023. The center did not disclose the value of the contract.

Salem AlMarri, deputy director general of MBRSC, said the center looked at several launch providers for the mission. “At the end of the day, we look, for each mission, what is best. For this mission, SpaceX was the best.”

Oct 27, 2021

Quantum advantage takes a giant leap in optical and superconducting systems

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Physicists in China expand quantum sampling well beyond the realm of classical computers.