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May 18, 2021

China lands Zhu Rong Mars rover after ‘nine minutes of terror’

Posted by in category: space

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South China Morning Post.

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May 18, 2021

Solar Orbiter captures its 1st video of eruption on the sun

Posted by in category: futurism

The US-European Solar Orbiter mission caught footage of a coronal mass ejection bursting out of the sun’s atmosphere during the spacecraft’s first close pass by our star.

May 18, 2021

Governments are deploying ‘wartime-like’ efforts to win the global semiconductor race

Posted by in categories: computing, mobile phones

These clever semiconductors make our internet-connected world go round. In addition to iPhones and PlayStations, they underpin key national infrastructure and sophisticated weaponry.

But recently there haven’t been enough of them to meet demand.

The reasons for the ongoing global chip shortage, which is set to last into 2022 and possibly 2023, are complex and multifaceted. However, nations are planning to pump billions of dollars into semiconductors over the coming years as part of an effort to sure up supply chains and become more self-reliant, with money going toward new chip plants, as well as research and development.

May 18, 2021

Brain-Computer Interface Translates Brain Signals Associated with Handwriting into Text

Posted by in categories: computing, information science, neuroscience

Researchers with the BrainGate Collaboration have deciphered the brain activity associated with handwriting: working with a 65-year-old (at the time of the study) participant with paralysis who has sensors implanted in his brain, they used an algorithm to identify letters as he attempted to write them; then, the system displayed the text on a screen; by attempting handwriting, the participant typed 90 characters per minute — more than double the previous record for typing with a brain-computer interface.

So far, a major focus of brain-computer interface research has been on restoring gross motor skills, such as reaching and grasping or point-and-click typing with a computer cursor.

May 18, 2021

Tyvak satellite on SpaceX rideshare mission carries tiny space telescope

Posted by in category: satellites

WASHINGTON — The Tyvak-0130 rideshare payload that flew to orbit May 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 carries a miniature space telescope for possible commercial use.

The technology was developed by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under a four-year agreement to advance compact telescopes for commercial applications, Tyvak’s CEO Christian “Boris” Becker said in an interview with SpaceNews.

Becker, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, was recently named chief executive of Tyvak, a satellite manufacturer in Irvine, California, owned by Terran Orbital.

May 18, 2021

To Observe the Muon Is to Experience Hints of Immortality

Posted by in category: life extension

Attempting to model the universe as precisely as possible is to try to see the one thing that even the strictest atheist agrees is everlasting.

May 18, 2021

Understanding dimensionality reduction in machine learning models

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI

Machine learning algorithms have gained fame for being able to ferret out relevant information from datasets with many features, such as tables with dozens of rows and images with millions of pixels. Thanks to advances in cloud computing, you can often run very large machine learning models without noticing how much computational power works behind the scenes.

But every new feature that you add to your problem adds to its complexity, making it harder to solve it with machine learning algorithms. Data scientists use dimensionality reduction, a set of techniques that remove excessive and irrelevant features from their machine learning models.

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May 18, 2021

Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense in the 21st century

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

A check valve without mechanical parts.


The eccentric inventor is known for dabbling with electricity, but his Tesla valve is impressing scientists anew.

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May 18, 2021

Some RNA molecules have unexpected sugar coating

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

A literature search revealed that one of the Siglec molecules had been previously linked to the autoimmune disease lupus. Finding connections between these different kinds of molecules starts to fill in a new and emerging picture of biology, Bertozzi says. That picture may look something like this: RNA hangs out on the cell surface, decorated with sugars. These sugars stick to Siglec proteins that help the immune system distinguish friend from foe.


In a surprise find, scientists have discovered sugar-coated RNA molecules decorating the surface of cells.

These so-called ‘glycoRNAs’ poke out from mammalian cells’ outer membrane, where they can interact with other molecules. This discovery, reported May 17, 2021, in the journal Cell, upends the current understanding of how the cell handles RNAs and glycans.

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May 18, 2021

Jeff Bezos wants to LIVE FOREVER — Aubrey De Grey: Secret Longevity Investor

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, robotics/AI, singularity

Interesting as I recall Aubrey lamenting that he had met Bezos several times over the years but never got a dime from him. Also I wonder where he would put the cash. Just donor all h by is SENS? Pick a company like Age-x?


Jeff Bezos is said to get into the Longevity Industry next month according to Aubrey De Grey. Having a billionaire invest into finding a cure for aging is both amazing and worrisome.
The field of longevity research was long underfunded but recently, with more and more results coming in, investors like Jeff Bezos are getting more and more interested in the field.

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