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Jun 24, 2020

Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Astronaut?

Posted by in category: space travel

As of December 4, 2019, 565 people from 41 countries have gone into space. That’s it. 565 out of more than 7 billion of us currently on this planet. And that’s using the definition of space travel to include any flight over 62 miles or about 100 kilometers.

Many of these space travelers are, of course, NASA astronauts. That means they went through a rigorous application and training process. So, what exactly does it take to be an astronaut?

To be considered for the NASA astronaut program is you must be a U.S. citizen. Dual citizenship is okay.

Jun 24, 2020

An analysis of the system-wide costs and benefits of using engineered nanomaterials on crop-based agriculture

Posted by in categories: biological, food, nanotechnology

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. has conducted an analysis of the system-wide costs and benefits of using engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) on crop-based agriculture. In their paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, the group describes their analysis and what they found.

As scientists have come to realize that vast improvements in agricultural practices are needed if future generations are going to be able to grow enough food to feed the expected rise in population. They have increasingly turned to technology-based solutions, rather than just looking for biological advances. One such approach involves the design and use of ENMs on crops as a means of improving pest control and fertilizer efficiency. Prior research has shown that some ENMs can be mixed into the soil as a form of pest control or as a means of diverting fertilizer directly to the roots, reducing the amount required. In a similar vein, some prior research has shown that ENMs can be applied to parts of the plant above-ground as a means of pest control. What has been less well studied, the researchers note, is the overall impact of ENMs on crops and the environment.

Jun 24, 2020

Tecton brings DevOps to machine learning

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

A startup recently emerging from stealth is aiming to automate much of the process for feature development with the goal of making data scientists more self-reliant.

Jun 24, 2020

Microsoft’s redesigned Windows 10 Start menu is a big improvement

Posted by in category: futurism

Windows 10 has been around for five years now, and although Microsoft has introduced a number of big changes over the years, the Start menu doesn’t look hugely different from how it was when the OS debuted back in 2015.

That’s all about to change though. Microsoft is planning to overhaul the menu, and it’s released a number of new images to give us a clearer idea of how it will look.

Jun 24, 2020

Scientists Want to Build Nuclear Reactors to Power Moon Colony

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, space

Staging Area

The engineers say four reactors could give enough energy for a six-person crew to live on Mars, and they’re hoping to use the Moon as a testing ground.

“On the moon, you’re close to home,” NASA engineer Michelle Rucker told C&EN, “so if something fails, it’s a fairly close trip to get back home, whereas on Mars, your system better be working.”

Jun 24, 2020

Sondors’ powerful new Bafang Ultra mid-drive e-bikes w/ 1kWh battery start at $1,999

Posted by in category: transportation

Sondors has just revealed three new high-powered electric bicycles known as the Sondors Rockstar, Cruiser and LX. The new models are part of the company’s not-yet-released Elite line. They feature stunning new frame designs, huge 1kWh batteries though the low introductory prices might actually be the biggest shocker of all.

Jun 24, 2020

New On-Chip Laser Shines in Many Colors

Posted by in category: computing

A weakness of lasers integrated onto microchips is how they can each generate only one color of light at a time. Now researchers have come up with a simple integrated way to help these lasers fire multiple colors, a new study finds.

When it comes to data and telecommunications applications, integrated lasers would ideally generate multiple frequencies of light to boost how much information they could transmit. One way to achieve this end is an “optical frequency comb,” which converts a pulse of light from a single laser into a series of pulses equally spaced in time and made up of different, equally spaced frequencies of light.

Generating combs long required equipment that was expensive, bulky, complex, and delicate. However, in the past decade or so, researchers began developing miniature and integrated comb systems. These microcombs passed light from a laser through a waveguide to a microresonator—a ring in which circulating light could become a soliton, a kind of wave that preserves its shape as it travels. When solitons left these microresonators, they each did so as very stable, regular streams of pulses—in other words, as frequency combs.

Jun 24, 2020

House’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill packed with pro-solar, pro-storage provisions

Posted by in category: futurism

In addition to making the stand-alone energy storage investment tax credit (ITC) eligible and extending a 30% solar ITC through 2025, the House bill creates a direct pay mechanism that can be used in lieu of the ITC.

Jun 24, 2020

Electrify America’s first cross-country EV charging route is complete

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Taking a cross-country roadtrip in your electric vehicle is a little more feasible thanks to Electrify America. Its first coast to coast EV fast charging route is now complete, and the company plans to have another route finished by September. The routes provide high-powered chargers to all EV brands, and on average, the stations are spaced about 70 miles apart, so EV owners can travel beyond a single charge without being stranded.

The first route stretches over 2,700 miles from Washington DC to Los Angeles. It follows Interstates 15 and 70 and passes through 11 states. The second route will connect Jacksonville and San Diego.

Jun 24, 2020

Reverse-Engineering of Human Brain Likely by 2030, Expert Predicts

Posted by in categories: Ray Kurzweil, robotics/AI, singularity

Circa 2010


Updated at 18:30 EST to correct timeline of prediction to 2030 from 2020 Reverse-engineering the human brain so we can simulate it using computers may be just two decades away, says Ray Kurzweil, artificial intelligence expert and author of the best-selling book The Singularity is Near. It would be the first step toward creating machines \[…\].