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A swarm of 10 bright blue drones lifts off in a bamboo forest in China, then swerves its way between cluttered branches, bushes and over uneven ground as it autonomously navigates the best flight path through the woods.

The experiment, led by scientists at Zhejiang University, evokes scenes from —and the authors in fact cite films such as “Star Wars,” “Prometheus” and “Blade Runner 2049” in the opening of their paper published Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics.

“Here, we take a step forward (to) such a future,” wrote the team, led by Xin Zhou.

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On 7 May 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off on her first voyage at 23:40 UTC from Pad-B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Her target: Intelsat VI F-3 (now known as Intelsat 603). The goal: rendezvous with, repair, and re-release the satellite.

In the now-30 years since that mission, on-orbit satellite repair and servicing have largely languished — save for the five Hubble servicing missions Endeavour and the Shuttle fleet would conduct after STS-49.

Northrop Grumman now aims to change that in 2024 when their new Mission Robotic Vehicle and Mission Extension Pods begin launching to perform on-orbit satellite servicing and repairs.

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“We provide a lot of evidence to bolster the case that this is a causal relationship, and it is driven by precisely the industries that are most affected by aging and have opportunities for automating work,”

“For decades, manufacturers in the United States have turned to automation to remain competitive in a global marketplace, but this technological innovation has reduced the number of quality jobs available to adults without a college degree—a group that has faced increased mortality in recent years,”

Full Story:

In a recent article, I examined research from MIT that showed how investment in technologies, such as robotics, is often made to compensate for an aging workforce.

Continue reading “Research Links Investment In Automation To Rising Mortality Rates” | >

The results of the study could lead to new treatment options. In a groundbreaking new study published in the journal Nature on Thursday, researchers have compared the brain cells of patients who had died from either Parkinson’s disease or dementia to people unaffected by the disorders and found which brain cells are responsible for both conditions.

A team of researchers has created a bacteria that can produce a steady and consistent source of medicine inside a patient’s gut, suggesting the possibility for genetically edited bacteria to be an efficient Parkinson’s disease treatment.

Moreover, the researchers have shown via preclinical experiments that the novel treatment technique is not only safe and well-tolerated, but it also reduces side effects that can occur when other treatments are utilized.

Continue reading “Scientists engineer a bacteria to produce a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease” | >

On the “World Password Day”, which was on May 5, Google, Microsoft and Apple joined hands to “kill” the password.

The three technology giants have vowed to create a future where your phone will be the primary source of online authentication. The new standard is being referred to as “muti-device FIDO credential”.

In a rare show of alliance, Apple, Google and Microsoft have joined forces to expand support for passwordless logins across mobile, desktop and browsers.

Passwords are notoriously insecure, with weak and easily guessable credentials accounting for more than 80% of all data breaches, per Verizon’s annual data breach report. While password managers and multi-factor technologies offer incremental improvements, Apple, Google and Microsoft are working together to create sign-in technology that is more convenient and more secure.

Through the new system, users will be able to sign-in to their accounts “through the same action that they take multiple times each day to unlock their devices, such as a simple verification of their fingerprint or face, or a device PIN.”

Continue reading “Apple, Google and Microsoft team up on passwordless logins” | >

Hearing loss is usually irreversible because there’s no way to grow back the necessary outer and inner ear sensory cells once they’ve been killed off. But we may have started on the path to change, thanks to new research in mice.

Scientists have discovered a single master gene that’s able to regulate whether ear hair cells into the outer or inner types required to restore hearing. That’s a significant step forward in being able to actually carry this out in the lab.

The master gene is called TBX2. Through experiments on mice, the team found that when it’s expressed, ear hair cells become inner hair cells; when it’s blocked, ear hair cells become outer hair cells. It’s a crucial toggle switch.

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