Dr Jim Green, NASA Office of the Chief Scientist, looks at the science behind the blockbuster movie: The Martian.
The bestselling book about an astronaut stranded on Mars was brought to life in Ridley Scott’s film, The Martian. Before production started, Ridley called NASA to obtain information about NASA’s plans for human exploration of Mars as well as the science of Mars that would contribute to a realistic look and feel of the film in keeping with the approach laid out in Andy Weir’s book.
The Guardian reports that the case revolves around George Defteros, a Victoria defense lawyer who previously represented Melbourne gangland figures. He sued Google over claims that its publication of search results showing a 2004 article defamed him.
The article from The Age implied that Defteros had become more than just a lawyer for criminal elements but was also a friend and confidant, crossing professional boundaries. The piece also reported on the murder charges Defteros faced in relation to the killing of three men. Prosecutors withdrew the charges in 2005.
Defteros’ lawyers contacted Google in February 2016 and asked it to remove the article, but Google refused as it said The Age was a reputable source. The piece was eventually removed in December 2016 after it had been accessed a further 150 times.
Production designer Jon Henson drew on minimalist Japanese architecture to create a house that acts “like a fourth character” for the set of BBC television series The Girl Before.
Written by British author JP Delaney, The Girl Before is a psychological thriller novel set in a fictional one-bedroom house called One Folgate Street in Hampstead, London.
For the TV series, which was created by BBC and HBO Max, the majority of the interior scenes were filmed last spring in a purpose-built set at Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol, while the house’s exterior was specially built.
It’s shiny, fast and ultrapowerful. But it’s not the latest Alfa Romeo. A physics laboratory in Tennessee just unveiled Summit, likely to be named the world’s speediest and smartest supercomputer.
Perhaps most exciting for the U.S.? It’s faster than China’s.
Guys over at 3DCenter.org have just updated their GPU price charts for January, which is a second update this month.
AMD Radeon RX 6,000 and GeForce RTX 30 prices are declining, this trend has been observed for the second time this month. From 185%, GeForce RTX 30 cards are now ‘only’ 177% more expensive than they should be. Meanwhile, AMD cards observe a reduction from 178% to 167%, which is a retail price increase over the official MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price).
Those price changes are likely not yet affected by the crypto coin crash that took place last week. For those to take effect we probably have to wait a week or two (so the next price update should be very interesting).
A Facebook robot that wraps fiber-optic cable around existing power lines could help bridge the digital divide by bringing internet access to some of the billions of people who currently lack it.
Why it matters: The 60% of the world population with internet access has social, economic, financial, and educational advantages over the other 40%, most of whom live in developing nations or rural areas.
The cost of expanding internet networks is a major barrier to bringing internet access to those people — if the Facebook robot can cut that cost, it could help close this “digital divide” and make the world a more equitable place.
In October 2017, the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua passed through our solar system, leaving many questions in its wake. Not only was it the first object of its kind ever observed, but the limited data astronomers obtained as it shot out of our solar system left them all scratching their heads. Even today, almost five years after this interstellar visitor made its flyby, scientists are still uncertain about its true nature and origins. In the end, the only way to get real answers from ‘Oumuamua is to catch up with it.
Interestingly enough, there are many proposals on the table for missions that could do just that. Consider Project Lyra, a proposal by the Institute for Interstellar Studies (i4is), which would rely on advanced propulsions technology to rendezvous with interstellar objects (ISOs) and study them. According to their latest study, if their mission concept launched in 2028 and performed a complex Jupiter Oberth maneuver (JOM), it would be able to catch up to ‘Oumuamua in 26 years.
On October 30th, 2017, less than two weeks after ‘Oumuamua was detected, the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is) inaugurated Project Lyra. The purpose of this concept study was to determine if a mission to rendezvous with ‘Oumuamua was feasible using current or near-term technologies. Since then, the i4is team has conducted studies that considered catching up with the ISO using nuclear-thermal propulsion (NTP) and a laser sailcraft, similar to Breakthrough Starshot—an interstellar mission concept for reaching Alpha Centauri in 20 years.
Researchers from Korea’s one of the best science and technology universities, KAIST’s Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, have developed a new artificial intelligence-powered light field camera that can read 3D facial expressions.
The highly capable camera uses a technique that uses infrared light to read facial expressions. Professors Ki-Hun Jeong and Doheon Lee led the research team which developed this artificial intelligence-enabled technology.
The newly developed light-field camera comes with micro-lens arrays in front of the image sensor, allowing it to capture the spatial and directional information of light in a single shot, making it tiny enough to fit into a smartphone.
